No Sugar Added Apple Bread Pudding

In my pursuit of less added sugar this year, I ventured into the realm of no added sugar desserts this week. I made a no added sugar apple bread pudding.

I had a bunch of bread crusts leftover from tea sandwiches over the weekend -- once cubed, a little over 2 cups. I also had some applesauce from our tree apples thawed in the fridge. I asked Chat GPT for a recipe for bread pudding with no added sugar, using applesauce and apples. Here's what it came up with.

2 1/2 cups bread cubes
3/4 cup applesauce
3/4 cup milk (I used soy milk)
1 large egg
1/2 large apple, peeled and finely diced (I used frozen cubes of apples, with peel on, about 1 cup)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup raisins (I used about 1/3 cup)

I also added 1/8 teaspoon salt, definitely needed it.

What I wish I would have added was 1 teaspoon vanilla and an extra egg.  As it was, though, the bread pudding was sweet like a homemade muffin and had lots of flavor. An extra egg would have made more of a custard. And the vanilla would have added to the flavor. It also might have benefitted from a tablespoon of melted butter added to the liquid mixture before combining with the bread cubes, apples, and raisins.

I baked mine in a buttered pie plate at 350 for about 25 to 3o minutes, until a knife inserted came out clean. Once done I cut it into wedges.

Delicious! I'll make this again with an extra egg, some vanilla extract, and a tablespoon of melted butter.