Simply Delicious Bread Pudding

Cooking has always been therapeutic for me, especially when a kitchen experiment turns out even better than I had hoped. You see, I'm a rebel (even in the kitchen) and a printed recipe is little more than a guide used to create something better. Creativity and fearlessness is the stuff real cooks are made of.

I learned to experiment in the kitchen from a master cook. She wasn't a trained chef and our meals were, well, let's just say they were - meals on a budget. Some cooks are just gifted with the ability to turn nothing into something delicious and that was how it was at our house growing up. My mother loved a good recipe but she always put her own twist on it. It's what made her dishes special. We called it a "touch of Mom" and she put it in every dish. Looking back, we should have just called it "love".

I have to be honest. I love comfort food and I have a recipe file full of favorites for those days when the world starts spinning a bit too fast. There are recipes for casseroles, soups, hot and spicy chili and yes, those sweet treats that add pounds to the waistline. But sometimes even those recipes that have proven themselves time and time again need a change. This one for bread pudding is my latest experiment and I couldn't be happier with the outcome. I took my conventional recipe, added a dash of this and a dash of that. Then, I added a secret ingredient that just took this old family recipe to the top of my list for decadent, sweet and spicy therapeutic foods.

If you're having a bad day, it takes 15 minutes to whip this one up and the result is well worth the 45 minute cook time wait. Enjoy!

Preheat oven to 350 ° and gather the following ingredients.

Have fun with this simple recipe for a decadent dessert. Let your imagination run wild. The coconut and cinnamon were my additions to the traditional recipe. I'll never make another bread pudding without them. Well, I might.

My taste buds are already telling me that this would be delicious with almond flavoring or, perhaps using blueberries instead of raisins and a hint of lemon zest or flavoring. There are no limits if you aren't afraid of failure. Go ahead -be bold and don't forget to come back and share your success in the comment section below.

• Some will tell you that bread pudding is no good the second time around. Don't believe them. This one can be easily refrigerated and reheated (covered) in a WARM oven. A single serving can be warmed in a glass dish in the microwave in less than a minute.
• If you're really feeling frazzled, add a dollop of vanilla bean ice-cream to this delicious comfort dish. No one's looking.
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