Do you ever get the fancy for something a bit different for dessert? I did, yesterday. It would have to be something that I could make using things that we had in the house, though-I couldn’t actually go and buy something, that would be cheating too much. We are trying not to eat too many desserts.
I thought about a crumble, but that was a bit ‘samey’, but then I came across a variation on bread-and-butter pudding. I don’t make them very often, even though Mark likes them very much, so it would be quite novel. The variation was that it included banana, and a bit of a caramel-y custard due to the inclusion of brown sugar. It sounded nice!
I had most of the ingredients. I was a bit short on white bread, but I did have sliced light rye bread and I thought that would probably do the job. I also wondered about variations. Bananas go really nicely with caramel (like in my Banoffee Pavlova (see Got Egg Whites?-Banoffee Pavlova), so I thought I might boost the caramel by adding some Dulce de Leche. I had bought a tin of this when I suddenly found it in my local supermarket-I had looked for this previously when making my caramel cake (see Quick but Impressive-Caramel Cake) but had failed to find it, so I was sure to pick one up when I did. So clearly I had to use it! I also thought I’d add a handful of raisins, which are more traditional additions to bread-and-butter pudding. I’ve also seen a version that uses halved and buttered hot cross buns as the basis-that sounds yum!
I’m giving the recipe for the original form, and for my alternative form; the photos are all of the alternative pudding but I don’t think it would vary greatly in looks. It’s an old-fashioned hot pud, warming and comforting. Considering that it had just snowed here (we thought we’d done with that!) perhaps I should have made it for tonight…
Original recipe, for 4
| 4 thick slices white bread |
| 50 g butter, softened |
| 85 g soft brown sugar, plus 1 tbsp to sprinkle |
| 2 eggs |
| 1 large banana, peeled and sliced |
| Large pinch cinnamon |
| 450 ml milk |
| 1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch) |
Alternative recipe, for two
| 2-3 slices light rye bread |
| Sufficient spreadable butter to thickly butter the bread |
| 30 g soft brown sugar, plus 1 tbsp to sprinkle |
| 1 egg |
| 1 smallish banana, peeled and sliced |
| Pinch ground nutmeg |
| 225 ml 2% milk |
| ½ tbsp cornflour (cornstarch) |
| Handful sultana raisins |
| Drizzle of Dulce de Leche or caramel sauce |
Grease a baking dish of appropriate size.
Butter the bread, cut into pieces and lay half, butter side up, on the bottom of the baking dish.
Cover with the banana slices. Add the raisins, if using, drizzle with Dulce de Leche, if using. Top with the remaining bread, butter side up.
In a bowl, combine the sugar (except the tbsp), milk, egg(s) and cinnamon/nutmeg. Whisk to combine.
Put the cornflour/cornstarch into a separate small bowl. Add a small amount of the milk mixture and stir well until it is smooth, then add this back into the bulk milk mixture. Whisk to combine, then pour over the bread, pushing the pieces down into the liquid. Set aside to soak for 30 minutes, or until the oven heats to temperature.
Preheat the oven. 350˚F/ 325 ˚F convection/180˚C/160 ˚C fan/Gas 4
When ready, sprinkle the top of the dish with the remaining tbsp. of sugar.
Bake, 30-40 minutes, until the egg mix has set and the top is golden-brown. Allow to stand for 5 minutes when out of the oven, before serving. Serve with ice cream, cream, custard, etc., as preferred.
It was a tasty pudding with a light caramel taste-it could possibly have used more Dulce de Leche even. I served it with a little cold cream and it hit the ‘something different’ spot-can’t ask for more!
The Pudding Queen 