Vegan Breakfast Bread Pudding

Sometimes, I think about devoting a blog entirely to veganizing recipes from The Food Network, especially Ina Garten's recipes. I think I have seen every episode of The Barefoot Contessa, and many of her recipes lend themselves easily to veganizing, and they almost always turn out great. This morning I decided to take a crack at her breakfast bread pudding.

I was a little nervous about how this vegan version would work out, considering the original recipe is made with a custard of eggs and heavy cream. But, the results were so yummy I ate half of the whole thing in about ten minutes. I guess I can feel a little less guilty about it knowing the vegan version has way less fat and calories than the original one.

Below is the recipe with a bunch of modifications. To the top I added earth balance for some rich buttery goodness, and cinnamon sugar to give it some nice caramelized crunchiness.

Vegan Breakfast Bread Pudding

*I loaf (vegan) challah, sliced into 1 inch thick pieces
*2 cups soymilk (I used vanilla)
*2 tbs. whole wheat pastry flour
*3 tbs. corn starch
*1/3 cup agave nectar
*1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
*Generous pinch salt
*Handful of raisins
*1 tbs. earth balance (or soy butter of your choice)
*Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together soymilk, flour, corn starch, agave nectar, vanilla and salt.

Line the bottom of an 8x8 inch glass baking dish with half the challah slices. Sprinkle raisins in an even layer on top of the challah. Layer the rest of the challah on top of the raisins, and press the whole thing down as far as you can into the dish with your hands.

Pour liquid soymilk mixture over the everything until it just barely covers the top of the challah slices. Dot the top with small pieces of earth balance (just as you would when baking a pie), and sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the liquid has formed a custard-like consistency. Serve with real maple syrup. Try to not to eat the whole thing in one sitting, although I won't judge you if you do ;-)