Muffin Bread Pudding

Have you ever been really excited about a recipe, whipped it up, waited anxiously for it to bake in the oven, pulled it out, waited for it to cool (or not) and taken that first bite only to find out it is dry, flavorless, or just kinda sucks? I definitely did this last night when I made some very dry banana muffins. The greatest disappointment came when I realized that I was probably going to just throw them away because no amount of peanut butter could save them. Then I had a moment of genius (if I can be so bold). I decided these muffins had to be made into bread pudding and what emerged from the oven after baking this treat did not disappoint in anyway. 

I am anything but a bread pudding connoisseur, I can easily count how many I have had it on hand. So whether this is a great bread pudding or not I can't say but one thing I know for sure is it is delicious. I strongly urge you to try it the next time you make a batch of not so delectable muffins. Maybe throw some good ones together right now and leave them on your counter to dry out so you can make this for dessert tomorrow night.  

6  healthy muffins, cut into 1 inch cubes

1 cup skim milk

1/2 cup water
(add more milk or water if your muffins are especially dry)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp maple syrup

1/4 cup Splenda
(you could use less if your muffins are pretty sweet but mine were not)

1 egg

nutmeg and cinnamon to taste 

Preheat oven to 350F and spray a loaf pan with cooking spray

Whisk together the milk, water, vanilla, maple syrup, Splenda, egg, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a bowl

Add the cut up muffins and use your hands to push them into the custard so they are all soaking up the liquid (do this gently though, you want them to stay in a semi cube shape)

Let this sit for 15 minutes

Pour into your greased loaf pan and bake for 35-40 minutes until it is set (no longer jiggly) and springs back when you lightly touch the top

Let it cool and serve with a drizzle of honey, dollop of whipped cream, or a scoop of ice cream

Servings 7

Per serving (1/7 of loaf) 125 calories

The calories obviously vary by what kind of muffins you make, I made super healthy ones and they had about 120 calories each.