What To Do With Leftover Challah [recipe]

Coconut Milk Challah Bread Pudding

As you may already know, my definition of good food is that which makes you want to roll on the floor and shout mammmmmmaaaaa! And as you also may know, I’m not actually referring to my mother, as she never cooked, but to the Italian mamme who fed me while I lived in Italy.

I learned in Italy that it’s not how food tastes, it’s how food makes us feel that counts.  While this bread pudding tastes like the perfect, not-too-sweet harmony between the rich eggy challah, the vanilla-and-cinnamon-spiked coconut milk, and a touch of Tuscan dessert wine, it feels like a love too pure for words to express.

In fact, when I sat my father down for a piece and witnessed his face soften with the first bite, I threw my arms around him enthusiastically and asked, “Dad, doesn’t this taste like your childhood?”

“Yes,” he responded, wide-eyed. “Like the childhood I never had.”

I saddened, but the truth is I never had a childhood that tasted like this bread pudding either. I’m not sure if anyone has. It’s not always easy to be a child, tossed around the world of cynicism and ego,  and yet we associate the innocence of childhood with a full heart.  How else can we touch that intimate and intangible place inside of us except with food? This Challah Bread Pudding is as close as I have come.

Enjoy and share with someone you love.

P.S. I purposely made this Challah Bread Pudding not too sweet so you can taste the subtlety of the flavors and not just the sugar. I recommend it for an afternoon tea, brunch or a dessert after a light, low-carb meal.

P.P.S. You can cut the recipe in half for a smaller portion.

For the Bread Pudding

Ingredients

• 6 cups of day old raisin challah, cut into 1 inch cubes (about 1 challah)
• 3 cups “>vanilla powder or 2 teaspoons of high quality vanilla extract
• ½ cup of Vin Santo
• 2-4 tablespoon of Cinnamon Crunch (Not-Too-Sweet) Challah French Toast

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