Healthier Bread Pudding

Photo: Lauren George

Ingredients

Ingredients for Bread Pudding:

7 cups bread cut into 1 inch cubes (I used Natures Own light wheat bread, it only has 3

1 1/2 cups light soy milk

2 eggs

2 egg whites

1/2 cup splenda blend sweetener (it is ½ sugar ½ splenda)

1/2 cup brown sugar splenda blend

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/2 cup chocolate chips (raisins would also work great, but Eric loves his Ingredients for Sauce:

4 tablespoons Smart Balance light (or any other light margarine)

1/2 cup brown sugar splenda blend

2 ounces (¼ cup) Jack Daniels

1/2 cup light soy milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place cubed bread pieces in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Mix all of the remaining ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a seperate bowl.

Pour wet ingredients over bread, and then sprinkle chcolate chips on top. Using your hands, toss the ingredients until the bread is completely coated.

Pour into 10X10 baking pan. (I used a 13x9 and the bread pudding was a little thin. A smaller deeper pan would work better. Hey live and learn!)

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the pudding starts to slightly pull away from the sides of the pan.

Let cool for 20 minutes minutes.

Combine margarine and brown sugar in a large sauce pan and stir until melted on low heat.

Add in Jack (They say this can flame up so please be careful. It didn't happen to me, but better safe than sorry.) You can also leave the Jack out completely if you prefer. I couldn't taste it very much in the sauce as it was.

If it does flame up, wait until the flames go away and then add the soy milk.

Ncrease heat to bring mixture to a low boil for 10 minutes.

Pour over your bread pudding, serve immediately, and enjoy!