Banana Peanut Butter Bread Pudding

Did you hear that Alex of Yums and Loves just had a baby girl?! While she and her husband celebrate their new little one she has a few guest posters lined up, including myself. Head on over to her blog today to find out more!

UPDATE: Her blog is not longer active so I have copied the post below.

Hello Yums and Loves readers! My name is Erin from The Spiffy Cookie and I have something to confess… No matter how many times it happens to me, I forget to read a recipe all the way through before setting out to prepare it. As a result I continuously get burned by overnight steps that I hadn’t planned for (but I want to eat it today!). Because I know I cannot be alone in making such a mistake repeatedly, here is your warning that this recipe has an overnight step (or a four hour step if you are impatient). But it is well worth the wait, I promise. If you don’t believe me just read the ingredient list: there’s peanut butter!

As Alex mentioned in her Popover post, everything is better when made with peanut butter. So when she asked me to guest post after the arrival of her new bundle of joy, I knew I had to make something with peanut butter. May babies have a special place in my heart, because I just so happen to be one peanut-butter -infatuated May baby myself!

I used crunchy peanut butter in order to add a little bit of a crunch factor into this very moist bread pudding. Even though I typically am not a fan of crunchy surprises in something as soft as bread pudding (such as crunchy pieces of celery and onion in potato salad – despite liking the flavor), but it felt so right in this scenario. I blame it on the slightly crunchy browned top after baking due do the sprinkling of sugar. Pure delicious blame.

Feel free to enjoy this with a side of yogurt, or whipped cream for those of you who prefer dessert for breakfast (no judgment here). But I was perfectly content eating this all by itself.

BANANA PEANUT BUTTER BREAD PUDDING

Serves 2 generously

4 slices sandwich bread (I used nutty oat)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup half and half

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 tsp honey

2 ripe bananas, thinly sliced

Butter for greasing your ramekins

Turbinado brown sugar for broiling (optional)

Directions:

1. Roughly cut or tear the bread into 1–inch pieces and set aside.
2. In a large, shallow dish, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, half and half and salt. Heat the peanut butter in the microwave until soft – about 30 seconds. Stir the peanut butter into the egg mixture and mix until it’s as even as possible (but it’s okay to have a few peanut butter blobs).
3. Gently stir the bread into the egg-peanut butter mixture, tossing until evenly coated and absorbing the mixture. The bread will disintegrate a little, but that’s fine. Slice the bananas and stir them gently in. Lightly grease two 6–inch wide ramekins (or use 4 smaller ramekins). Pour the pudding mixture into the ramekins and pat down gently. Cover in saran wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight to allow flavors to fully meld.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sprinkle a little Turbinado sugar on tops of puddings. Bake for about 20 minutes, until top is golden and the pudding has puffed slightly. Serve immediately with optional vanilla yogurt or whip cream.

Source: Adapted slightly from The Kitchn.