Banana-Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce

Keeping with my theme of featuring foods with aphrodisiac qualities, this bread pudding packs in three of them – banana, chocolate and nutmeg.  The rum sauce doesn’t hurt either.  I don’t know that alcohol is technically considered an aphrodisiac, but it seems to do the job!

This recipe is from the book Veganomicon, and since bread pudding is one of my favorites, I’ve had my eye on this one since I got the book.  I’m glad I finally got around to making it, because this is such a fantastic dessert.  It’s not too sweet, it’s easy to make, and it’s incredibly delicious and totally comforting.  Everyone who tried this raved about it, and they couldn’t believe that it was vegan.

You could serve this with some vanilla ice cream or whipped coconut cream, but I think the rum sauce is what puts it over the top.   I’ve tried different recipes for rum sauces in the past, but I think I’ll stick with this one from now on.

Rum Sauce

1 ounce non-dairy margarine

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup soy creamer

2/3 cup soy milk

1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 tablespoons dark rum

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Mix together the sugar and cornstarch, and stir into the butter. Pour in milk, and cook stirring frequently until the mixture begins to boil. Continue cooking until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in rum. Serve warm.

Notes: You can make the sauce ahead of time, but put some plastic wrap directly touching the surface to prevent a skin from forming.  Refrigerate, and reheat before serving.  If you don’t have soy creamer, just use 1 cup of non-dairy milk.