Vanilla Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce - NO eggs, dairy, soy, or refined sugar

Bread pudding is one of those dairy-filled foods I tend to miss. Presented with a stale portion of Italian bread (which I'm sure could easily be swapped out for healthier/gluten-free bread), I started searching for recipes online to see if I could make bread pudding without dairy or soy, and preferably without eggs. I found this, which looked good... but then I realized I wanted a flavor more reminiscent of my childhood, so I went with the spices listed here, complete with a version of the rum sauce.



Bread pudding

2 1/2 cups cubed stale bread
1 single serve box of raisins (optional)
1 to 1 1/2 cups So Delicious Sugar Free Vanilla Coconut Milk
(if you don't mind the sugar, I suspect the Creamer would be amazing)
1/2 cup + 2 TBSP vanilla agave (or sweetener of choice)
1 1/2 TBSP rice flour (or arrowroot)
2 TBSP coconut oil or coconut butter
1 TBSP vanilla
1 TBSP cinnamon + ½ tsp nutmeg, OR ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice + 1/2 TBSP cinnamon
1-2 TBSP coconut rum

Use a mixing bowl for your cubed bread. On the stove top or in the microwave, melt the 2 Tbsps coconut oil/butter with 2 Tbsps agave and some rum, and drizzle the mixture over the bread. Mix to distribute evenly, then set aside.

Mix the milk with the rest of the agave, the spices, and the rice flour or arrowroot. Taste and add more agave if necessary. Pour over the bread, add the raisins, mix well, and let sit for at least 10 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 325. Pour mixture into ramekins or small baking dish, and bake for 30-35 minutes. Serve with Rum Sauce (below, optional) or agave.

Rum Sauce

1/2 cup coconut syrup
1/4 cup coconut rum
1 TBSP coconut oil or butter

Combine and heat in microwave in 15-second increments (stirring in between to make sure the oil/butter is melted) for a quick, flavorful pudding topping.

Quick and easy coconut dessert

I've been craving dessert that I can just pull out of the freezer and maybe defrost a bit.... and everything has dairy or soy. Yes, of course I could head to a health food store - but I was feeling creative. I wanted a quickie coconut pudding/custard - and I was sure I could achieve it without too many ingredients. Plus, I had just discovered the Filipino version of dulce de leche - they call it coconut jam, and it's made of coconut milk and sugar. I needed an excuse to use it as a topping!

A couple of notes - first, the final texture is pretty chunky for a pudding or custard, so purists may be disappointed. Second, I purchased my desiccated coconut at the same Asian supermarket where I found the coconut jam - I'm not sure American markets have it as finely shredded.

Quick and easy coconut "pudding" -

1 can coconut milk
1/2 cup finely shredded/desiccated coconut
1/2 cup honey/agave/sweetener of choice, to taste
1/4 cup Filipino coconut jam (matamis na bao) to use as topping

Blend the coconut milk with the next two ingredients, pouring the shredded coconut in bit by bit until you achieve desired thickness. Once you're satisfied with the taste and texture of your mixture, you can decide how you want to freeze/store it. I poured mine into small covered bowls, so I could defrost as needed. And of course, the coconut jam - I used a knife to swirl it across the top of each bowl.