Bread Pudding is probably the most comfortable comfort food. What other type of food has a moist pudding-like texture paired with a soft cake-like feel? Take some barley malt syrup, cinnamon, nugmeg, ginger and cloves. Now add some pumpkin and bourbon to the mix and you have recipe to warm your soul. In one bite all your worries are forgotten for a few minutes. Preparing this vegan Pumpkin Bourbon Bread Pudding recipe is really easy, provided you already have pumpkin purée. For the base, you can use any bread that is light in color and neutral in flavor.

½ cup non-dairy milk, warm
3 Tablespoons golden flax meal
½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 cup pumpkin purée
½ cup + 2 Tablespoons non-dairy milk
½ cup sugar
2 Tablespoons barley malt syrup
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves
2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)

5 cups stale white artisan bread, 1 inch cubed*
½ cup + 2 Tablespoons refined coconut oil
2 Tablespoons water

1)
Preheat oven to 350F (177C). In a small bowl, whisk together the ½ cup warm non-dairy milk, golden flax meal and apple cider vinegar. Let it sit for at least 5 minutes so the mixture starts to get goopy.

2)
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin purée, ½ cup + 2 Tablespoons non-dairy milk, sugar, barley malt syrup, cinnamon, salt, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and burbon if desired. Whisk in the non-dairy milk flax mixture from Step 1.

3)
In another medium mixing bowl, toss the bread cubes with the melted coconut oil and water so they're well coated.

4)
Add the wet ingredients from Step 2 to the bowl containg the bread cubes and stir until just incorporated. Transfer this mixture to an 8 x 8 inch square baking dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

*Don't have stale artisan bread at the moment? Preheat your oven to 350F (177C). Get a loaf of good quality near-white bread and slice 7 to 9 slices into cubes to make enough for 5 cups. Divide the bread cubes in half and place them on two cookie sheets. Bake them in the oven for 15 minutes so they dry out, then use them in the recipe.