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Ashley, one of our blog readers, sent us a request to make over her grandmother’s famous bread pudding recipe, complete with a decadent bourbon sauce. We accepted the challenge to lighten up this comforting favorite.
Check out the recipe we developed for Whole Grain Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Pudding.
Here are the changes we made to our lightened up version of traditional bread pudding:
- The original recipe called for both heavy whipping cream and whole milk, so we substituted 1% low fat milk for these, resulting in a significant reduction in calories, fat, saturated fat and cholesterol. When you consider that 1 cup of heavy whipping cream contains 821 calories and 88 grams of fat, and 1 cup of whole milk contains 146 calories and 8 grams of fat, and you compare that to 1 cup of 1% low fat milk containing 102 calories and just 2 grams of fat, you can see that’s a heck of a healthy savings! It’s true that with a rich recipe like this, making the switch to the lower fat, lower calorie option yields a less decadent product, but no less delicious!
- The original recipe calls for cinnamon raisin bread, which is traditionally made with bleached white flour. Our delicious, healthy version bakes whole grain cinnamon raisin bread into a delicious pudding. This increases the fiber, vitamin and mineral content of the recipe.
- We opted to omit the rich bourbon sauce topping which contains bourbon, sugar and butter. Doing so allowed us to create a lighter, version of this traditional treat that can be enjoyed every day! How about serving a fresh colorful fruit salad alongside instead?
Did you miss the recipe link above? Here is the full recipe for our Whole Grain Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Pudding.
Got a recipe that needs a natural makeover? Post it in the comments section below! If we select your recipe and publish the improved version on our website, we’ll send you a $25 Whole Foods Market gift card.
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I’d love to give a natural makeover to my husband’s recipe for macaroni and cheese. Everyone LOVES when he makes this, including me, but it is so unhealthy. Any way to make this a little better for us?
Recipe:
16 oz macaroni – cooked simultaneously to be added when sauce is finished
1 stick butter
diced onion
tsp salt
tsp pepper
tsp old bay
1/2 cup flour
3 1/2 cups milk
24oz cheddar set aside 8oz for the topping
-melt the butter and saute the onion with salt, pepper, and old bay
-once onion is soft, add flour while stirring creating a roux
-add milk and whisk until smooth
-bring just to a boil while stirring and remove from heat
-Slowly stir in 160z of the cheese until smooth
-add to cooked macaroni and stir until well mixed
-pour into baking dish, cover with the rest of the cheese. and bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350 degrees until bubbly around edges and browning on top
January 27th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
This looks pretty good. I will have to give it a try.
January 27th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
This sounds like a great recipe. I love flavors of bread pudding and actually just recently came up with a healthified (and veganized) pudding recipe of my own using cereal. It came out great! Sort of a cross between rice pudding and bread pudding, but with no cooking or baking required.
http://www.soapandchocolate.com/2010/01/cinnamon-raisin-cereal-pudding.html
January 28th, 2010 at 11:38 am
This recipe sounds delicious! I would love to have a gluten-free version!!!
January 29th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
I’m not much of a bread pudding person but I have to say that this one looks good!
Some time ago I had Brioche … it was decadent and yummy … but it’s also filled with eggs and butter. So I was wondering if you have a healthy, vegan make-over for Brioche … and taking it one step further … a healthy, vegan make-over for French Toast using Brioche?
Love your make-overs … I learn so much!
January 30th, 2010 at 11:58 am
@Lynn – you can easily make this GF by using GF Cinnamon-Raisin Bread and GF vanilla extract.
February 1st, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Thanks for the post! Sounds yummy. I’m starting a whole grain blog at http://www.littlebakervalerie.blogspot.com and I’d love to try some of your recipes like these. Thank you!
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:44 pm