This recipe came as an inspiration from a fellow food blogger, Instagram follower and foremost an avid foodie, like myself!  Anna (aka Bambi) of Adobo Down Under posted a photo of her delicious “Really Moist Banana Bread/Cake” recipe on Instagram one day, and I thought to myself…I’ve got bananas sitting on our kitchen counter doing nothing!  So out of her recipe came an idea for banana bread pudding–which, coincidently, I have never tackled ‘bread pudding‘.  So, also with a little tip from hubby, and an ode to Bambi’s inspiration…off for some baking I went 😉

(By the way…check out Bambi’s recipe for Really Moist Banana Bread/Cake on her blog site!)

Ingredients:

This recipe yields 6 servings.

• 4 cups cubed day-old French or sour dough bread (1-in. pieces)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sliced firm bananas (1/4-inch pieces)
• 1 tablespoon rum (optional)
• 1 small box raisins (optional)

For the sauce…

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon rum (optional)

Directions

• Place the bread cubes in a greased 2-qt. casserole; pour butter over and toss to coat.
• In a medium bowl, lightly beat eggs; add milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir in bananas.
• Pour over bread cubes and stir to coat. Bake, uncovered, at 375° for 40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.
• Meanwhile, for the sauce, melt butter in a small saucepan.
• Combine sugar and cornstarch; add to butter.
• Stir in milk and corn syrup. Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture comes to a full boil.
• Boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat; stir in the vanilla.
• Serve warm sauce over warm pudding.

Note…also goes quite well with a simple vanilla ice cream.  Cold against warm…YUM!—gcc

Bulk of the recipe adapted from Taste of Home