A few weeks ago I was sorting out our deep freezer and I stumbled upon a banana bread loaf that I had baked a few months ago. We were going to a braai the next day and we had to take dessert. Seeing as I had the bread, I wanted to make use of it. Bread pudding was the obvious choice, but it needed something to take it to the next level.
Who doesn’t like the combination of banana and chocolate? I am sure you must have had a crepe (or a pancake, if you are South African) with cut banana and Nutella? When we were on our honeymoon in Thailand, there was at least one banana pancake stand within each 100 meters on each street. Unfortunately, we only tried the banana pancakes on our last evening. We had a banana pancake with caramel sauce. If I had known how fantastic it would be, I would have bolted to the banana pancake stand when my eyes opened in the morning. It was a real a treat to watch the Thais make banana pancakes within a few minutes. They do not use traditional pancake / crepe batter, but instead something more like dough that is stretched –almost like you would the pastry of a strudel.
This is what the process looks like (sorry, I didn’t get all of the steps, but I’m sure you get the idea):
Bread pudding is enjoyed all over the world in many different variations and what it is served with. Generally bread pudding is made with stale bread, cream or milk, eggs and some sort of fat (butter, margarine, oil). A lot of times people refer to it as bread & butter pudding, very popular in Britain, and is most often served with custard. It is a fantastic way to use stale bread instead of throwing it out or makinf bread crumbs.
My husband gave me my very first Le Creuset piece for my birthday. Yes, I am one lucky lady! It is this beauty. This pudding fits perfectly into this 23cm square dish.
The bread was defrosted overnight. The next day a beautiful banana bread pudding with Bar One pieces was created.
You can substitute banana bread with stale croissants or white bread.
Banana Bread & Bar One Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 x Medium Loaf Banana Bread, cut into 2cm squares - please don’t worry if it is not equal sizes (if the crusts are burnt or very hard, please cut them off)
- 500ml Warm Milk
- 3 Eggs
- 100ml Sugar
- 50ml Butter, melted
- A Pinch of Salt
- 5ml Vanilla Essence
- ½ Teaspoon Cinnamon (optional)
- 2 x 55g *Bar One Chocolates or more (the more the merrier), cut into 1cm chunks
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C.
- Spray an oven-proof dish with non-stick spray.
- Place a single layer of pieces of bread into the dish, add some Bar One pieces. Repeat this until the pieces of bread and Bar One is finished.
- Whisk the eggs, sugar, melted butter, vanilla essence and salt.
- Add the milk to the mixture, whisking constantly.
- Pour the milk mixture over the pieces of bread.
- Bake for 50 – 60 minutes.
- Serve with ice cream or custard.
- *I used Bar Once Spread that I bought in a big tub. Unfortunately I do not know of any store that sells smaller than 5kg quantities.