As popular as PB&J is around the house– with Desi who simply will not start his day without it and with Jay who, after some initial hesitation adopting it when he first came to us, has grown to love it — I wanted to try out a version of a vegan PB&J Bread Pudding for breakfast this past Sunday. But I wanted it to be an adult, sophisticated version of a peanut butter and jelly bread pudding. And this version, guys, is as close to perfection as you can get.
The jelly here is a fruit compote made of tasty, healthy berries, and the peanut butter is a creamy concoction that gets poured on and seeps into every nook and cranny, making this pudding gooey and warm and delicious beyond words. The custard that smothers it all is flavored with vanilla and so insanely good that you might have a hard time stopping yourself from licking the spoon…again and again. Not that you should.
I was first thinking of making this with a vegan brioche, but then I decided to take the healthier way and use whole-wheat bread instead. I was happy I did, because the bread, once it has soaked in all the moisture, is so soft that using white bread wouldn’t really have made a huge difference. Try to make sure that the bread is light and airy, not dense, because you want it to be porous enough to absorb all of the goodness you pour on it.
As the pudding baked in the oven, the wonderful fragrance brought Desi and Jay running down the stairs, sniffing the air. They tucked through it at lightning speed, even Jay whose reception of new foods is, at best, tepid. When it was over, he sat down with the baking dish and licked it clean.
Something tells me I’ll be getting requests to make this PB&J Bread Pudding again and again.
- 9 slices of whole-wheat or other wholegrain bread
- 1 cup frozen berries (use one kind or a mix like I did. Mine had raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries)
- 4 tbsp maple syrup
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup peanut butter + 3/4 cup almond or cashew milk blended until smooth
- 1 cup almond or cashew milk
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean. If using a bean split it through the middle and carefully, with the tip of a knife, scrape out all the seeds
- Vegan butter or margarine for buttering the bread
- 1 cup fresh berries sliced if using strawberries
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Lightly butter all the slices of bread
- Make the fruit compote by placing the berries, lemon zest and 2 tbsp of maple syrup in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and continue to cook over medium-low heat until the compote has thickened to a spreadable consistency and doesn't look watery. Set aside.
- Make the custard by placing the nondairy milk in a saucepan with the vanilla and the cornstarch. Whisk them together really well so there are no lumps, then turn on the heat to medium-low. Stir frequently with a whisk and turn off as soon as the mixture starts to boil and thickens.
- I used a baking pan that measured 8 X 6 inches and was about 4 inches deep to make this pudding. If your baking dish is a slightly different size, cut your bread to make it fit.
- Spray the baking dish with some oil. Place one layer of bread at the bottom of the dish, then spread on the berry compote.
- Add one more layer of bread, and pour on the peanut butter mixture. Make sure it coats the bread evenly.
- Add the last layer of bread, and then pour on the vanilla custard. Wait about 10-15 minutes for the custard to seep into the pudding.
- Place the baking dish in the oven and bake 20 minutes.
- Remove the pudding from the oven, scatter on the fresh berries, return to the oven, and bake for another five minutes.
- Remove from the oven and serve hot.
Genius! I usually try to wait to comment until after I make it, but this will have to wait until the weekend, most likely—and just had to say “Wow!” You used this as the main dish, correct? To me, it’s a complete, healthy breakfast—whole wheat bread, fruit, PB, almond milk, etc.—better and healthier than what 99.99995% of Americans eat for breakfast…
Hi Ellen, absolutely, this was the ONLY dish, since it really had everything in it, like you said. I hope you will try it. 🙂
Looks great! Did you just lay the bread flat side by side?
Hi Kelly, for each layer I lay two slices side by side and then cut the third one to fit into the narrower spaces. You can also cut the bread diagonally, into triangles, for a pretty look.
I think my hubby would love this! amazing recipe. Thanks a lot for sharing
Regards
Archana
http://hebbarskitchen.com/
I cannot wait to try this. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Peanut butter is by FAR my favorite! Can’t get enough. Love the toppings
I love peanut butter (I use finish jars of just by eating it with a spoon) but I’d like to make this for my dad who isn’t too fond of it. Could I skip the second layer of bread? OR could I halve the compote and bake half the recipe with two layers of custard in a large loaf pan for a smaller serving size?
Another idea I’m tossing around in my head is maybe pureeing some mango and milk and using that as a layer. Do you think that’d work?
Hi Krithika, you could try either of those ideas. If you do a single layer you will need less baking time, so be sure to start checking around 15 minutes into baking to make sure it doesn’t dry out too much.
And a layer of mango cream sounds superb. I might just skip the compote and go with that, because I’d hate to add anything, even delicious berries, that take away from the mango flavor. 🙂