Ready for some good, old-fashioned comfort food?

Looking into it’s history, I learned that bread pudding dates back to the 13th century. At that time, it was a dish made up from stale bread, which was soaked in water (or maybe milk), with some sugar and spices. Wow! Talk about your “poor man’s” dessert… Many of today’s bread puddings are a lot more sophisticated, usually composing of custard, fancy flavorings, and chic breads.

Here I tried to keep things basic by using just a handful of familiar and accessible ingredients. Comfort food should not be a headache to make… The result was a rich and satisfying pudding.

Make this dish twice as delicious by serving it with Pumpkin Ice Cream!

Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding

5 cups Stale Bread Cubes (I used whole wheat)*

2 cups Lite Coconut Milk**

3 ounces (85 grams) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

2/3 cup Pureed Banana

1/3 cup Pure Maple Syrup

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Salt

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease an 8-inch square pan.

Spread the bread cubes in the prepared baking pan. Set aside.

Puree banana and mix in the maple syrup, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

Place milk and chocolate together, over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until chocolate has melted and they come together.  Remove from heat.

Add the banana mixture to the chocolate and blend thoroughly.

Pour the liquid over top of the bread cubes. Press the bread cubes into the liquid making sure to saturate all the pieces (otherwise you will have a dry crusty top).

Bake for approximately 25 minutes, until firm.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

*I found it helpful to tear or cut the bread into bite size pieces before it was stale, and then let it dry out.

** I used one can of coconut milk, it came just short of 2 cups. Instead of opening a second can, I topped it up with some almond milk from the refrigerator.