Banana Bread Pudding

 

I had some stale bread that needed using up today, along with some bananas that were ripening. I knew I could use two of the bananas up in another kind of bake, but I wanted to do something different with the one.

I am not a big bread eater most of the time. I only ever rarely eat it,  and then it is always whole wheat, and usually as toast.  I had bought this loaf of white bread when Eileen and Tim were here one day because they only eat white bread.

 

 

If I had a large freezer, I simply would have frozen it to use another time, but alas . . .  I only have the top of my refrigerator freezer at this point in time.  I have given the birds lots of my bread over the past few months.

Today I thought I could use at least some of this to make some sort of dessert and with the banana involved, a chocolate and banana bread pudding came to mind.  And why not!  

 

 

I wish you could have seen this when it first came out of the oven.  The bread and custard had all souffled up and looked like a pretty flower. 

All puffy and tall, golden brown. Buttery golden brown.  Alas, what goes up usually comes down in a very short time so I was unable to get a photograph. You will just have to take my word for it!

 

It was indeed, extremely pretty.  I love recipes like this one, where you can use up things you have in your house.  I hate waste.

Bread puddings and the like are the perfect use for stale bread, as is French toast.   A bread pudding is actually like a baked French toast in almost every way.

 

Or you could say French toast is fried bread pudding. Its all in how you look at it I guess! 

Today I used Villagio Classic Italian White Bread.  The slices were nice and thick.  Brioche would also work very well.  Mmmm . . .  especially chocolate chip brioche, but I digress.

 

This is a bread and butter pudding, in that the slices of bread are buttered on one side before layering them in the dish.  I cut them in half and used a glass pie dish, placing half of them in buttered side up, and sprinkled with cinnamon

They looked like a flower laying there in the pie dish. I covered the first layer of bread with sliced banana. Not too thin, each slice being about 1/3 of an inch thick.  Then I sprinkled semi-sweet chocolate chips over top.

 

Bananas and chocolate go so well together.  I wouldn't use milk chocolate here. It would be too sweet with the banana. Just my opinion.

I thought semi sweet would work much better.  Trust me on this.

 

I placed the remaining half slices of bread over top of the banana and chocolate chips, again sprinkling them with ground cinnamon.

I placed them slightly askew from the bottom layer so that there were no real gaps right through to the bottom of the dish if that makes sense.

 

A rich custard then gets poured over top. This, too, is simple. Just beaten milk and cream, eggs and some brown sugar. 

I used full fat milk. I mean there is cream, so what the heck. Why not use whole! Desserts are suppose to be a tad bit indulgent.

 

You want to whisk these together until the sugar melts completely into the liquid. You could add a touch of vanilla if you wanted to, or a bit of vanilla and lemon, but I did not.

Pour this over the bread, making sure that every slice gets some on it.  

 

I then used the back of my wooden spoon to smush them down a tiny  bit.  Making sure each and every scrap of the bread was soaked or soaking. 

Submerge it as well as you can, but don't compact it, if that makes sense. (And I hope that it does!)

 

I didn't bother putting any chocolate chips on top. I knew that the oven temperature would only burn them, or cause they to dry out too much.  I don't like chocolate chips that are burnt and dried out. 

I also don't think any other kind of chocolate chip would work as well as the semi sweet. You could chop up semi sweet chocolate or even dark chocolate, but make sure it is a good quality chocolate.

 

I sprinkled it with a final but of freshly grated nutmeg and then just left it sitting for half an hour so that a lot of the custard could be absorbed.  Makes for a lovely soufflé like finish, in my opinion.

This is a pudding that loves to be served with lashings of something creamy.  Vanilla ice cream. Pouring cream. Custard sauce.

 

I decided to serve it with lashings of cream. Yes, there is only me.  Don't judge me, lol.  I already judge myself.

This is pretty indulgent and difficult to resist. A once in a blue moon treat perhaps.

 

My problem is I have far too many of those. Blue moon treats that is, but at this stage of my life, I figure a bit of indulgence every now and than won't hurt.

Do you know what you can do with leftover bread and butter pudding?  Pop it into the refrigerator and let it get really cold.  Then cut it into slabs.

Fry the slabs in hot butter and then serve it hot, drizzled with maple syrup, with some berries scattered over top for breakfast.  Just saying.  Not that I am going to do that.

But a gal can dream can't she?  Dreams cost nothing.  Enjoy!

Banana Bread Pudding

Yield: 3

Author: Marie Rayner

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 40 Mininactive time: 30 MinTotal time: 1 H & 19 M

You can use Brioche bread for this delicious pudding or ordinary white bread. Delicious served warm with vanilla ice cream, pouring cream or custard sauce. Simply double the ingredients to serve six.

Ingredients

• Softened butter to butter the bread and grease the casserole dish
• 5 thick slices of bread, you can leave the crusts on
• 1 banana, peeled and sliced
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 TBS semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup (180ml) whole milk
• 1/3 cup (80ml) double cream
• 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
• 2 TBS soft light brown  sugar
• pinch of grated nutmeg

Instructions

1. Butter all of your bread slices on one side and cut in half through the middle.  Butter a 9 inch pie dish. 
2. Place half of the bread slices in the bottom of the dish, butter side up. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon. Slice the banana over top and sprinkle with the chocolate chips.  Top with the remaining slices of bread, butter side up, and sprinkle with the remainder of the cinnamon.
3. Whisk together the milk, cream, egg and brown sugar until the sugar melts into the mixture and dissolves.  Pour this evenly over the bread in the pan, making sure  everything gets covered.  Push the bread down into the milk mixture with the back of a wooden spoon if you need to.  
4. Sprinkle a bit of nutmeg on top and leave to sit for half an hour. 
5. Preheat the oven to 375*F/190*C/ gas mark 5.
6. Bake the bread pudding in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes until risen, golden brown and the custard has set. (A knife inserted half way between the side and the center should come out clean.) 
7. Serve warm and spooned out into bowls.

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