Star Anise Bread Pudding

This bread pudding is great served warm, but it's good at room temperature, too. We cut each piece into four squares, then stacked them for a dramatic presentation.

Yield: 9 servings

Ingredients

• 2  cups  whole milk
• 6  star anise
• 1/2  cup  sugar
• 2  tablespoons  chopped crystallized ginger
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 4  large eggs, lightly beaten
• 12  (1-ounce) slices cinnamon-raisin bread, cut into 1-inch pieces
• Cooking spray
• 1  tablespoon  sugar
• 2 1/4  cups  vanilla reduced-fat ice cream (such as Healthy Choice)

Preparation

Combine the milk and star anise in a small, heavy saucepan. Heat to 180° or until tiny bubbles form around edge of pan, stirring frequently (do not boil). Remove from heat; cover and steep 20 minutes. Strain milk mixture through a fine sieve into a large bowl; discard star anise. Add 1/2 cup sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and eggs; stir with a whisk. Gently stir in bread. Let stand 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Pour into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle the mixture evenly with 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve each piece warm with 1/4 cup ice cream.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

284 (23% from fat)

Fat:

7.1g (sat 2.3g,mono 2g,poly 0.4g)

Protein:

10.1g

Carbohydrate:

45.3g

Fiber:

1.9g

Cholesterol:

104mg

Iron:

2.9mg

Sodium:

220mg

Calcium:

129mg