Sunday Sweets

I grew up with a Grandma that loves to bake and passed her love of baking to me. She says "Liebe geht durch den Magen" which translated means "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach", Grandma speaks German.
Funny because my husband always claims that he fell in love with me the first time he tried my cheesecake, so Grandma was not far off.
Hubby has a huge sweet tooth and I like to bake, which is great BUT it sucks for the waistline.  My solution was to stop baking, that way we would not be surrounded with temptation all the time. Well that sounded great, but hubby would just head to the closes bakery and pick up something to satisfy his carving... and we all know bakery stuff is not exactly healthy, plus always loaded with sugar.


So now I'm back to baking on Sundays, trying to find healthy alternatives that are delicious and low in calories.

A Few years back my sister gave me a copy of "Eat, Shrink and Be Merry" and I actually had never made anything out of it until today. I decided to give "You're Pudding Me On" a try, a warm banana bread pudding with Chocolate Chips... sounds great, hubby loves bread pudding.

You're Pudding Me On
Recipe adapted from Eat, Shrink and be Merry
12 slices multigrain bread (about 1 lb / 454 g) 
2 cups 2% milk 
2 cups mashed ripe Organic bananas 

1 cup Organic Greek Style vanilla yogurt

4 organic eggs

3/4 cup packed brown sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Break bread into 1-inch pieces and place in a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Dish should be full.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, bananas, yogurt, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Pour mixture over bread. Using your hands (yeah, it’s a little messy), mix bread cubes with milk mixture so that all pieces are coated. Let stand for 15 minutes while you preheat oven to 350F.

3. Just before popping dish into oven, mix in most of the chocolate chips , saving a little to sprinkle on top. 

4. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until pudding is puffed up and golden brown and center is set. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Makes 12 servings.

YUM YUM this was so good it absolutely hit the spot, BUT we all agreed that 3/4 cups of chocolate chips was a bit much. I think next time I would only sprinkle them on top.

What's your favourite healthy dessert?