Banana-Nut Bread Pudding

BANANA-NUT BREAD PUDDING

Served with a delicious caramel sauce, this recipe for Banana-Nut Bread Pudding is a simple-to-prepare dessert that your family will ask you to prepare again and again.

Serves 6

	Unsalted butter, for greasing
1	cup (2 to 3) ripe bananas, peeled and mashed, plus 1 banana, sliced
1½	cups heavy cream
2	large eggs, plus 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
½	cup light-brown sugar, firmly packed
¼	cup spiced rum, optional
2	teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1	teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼	teaspoon kosher salt
½	loaf Brioche (about 8 ounces) or other white bread, crusts removed and sliced into 1-inch cubes
½	cup pecans, chopped
1	cup granulated sugar
	Whipped cream, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Fill a roasting pan with ½ inch of hot water and place in the oven. Grease six 4-ounce ramekins with butter and set aside. In a bowl, whisk 1 cup of mashed bananas and 1 cup of heavy cream together with the eggs, egg yolks, and brown sugar. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the rum, as well as the vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt.

Toss the cubes of bread, as well as the pecans and sliced banana, into the custard mixture. Stir to thoroughly combine, and then set aside for 10 minutes, allowing the bread to soak up the custard mixture. Divide the bread pudding evenly between the prepared ramekins. Arrange the ramekins in the prepared hot water bath, and bake in the preheated oven until set, 40 to 50 minutes. Then, remove and cool for at least 10 minutes.

To prepare a simple caramel sauce to accompany your bread puddings, combine the granulated sugar with the remaining 2 tablespoons of rum in a small saucepan. Set the saucepan over medium heat and cook, swirling the pan often (don't stir), until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce has reached a dark amber color. Then, remove the pan from the heat and stir in ½ cup heavy cream. Cool slightly and serve with the bread puddings.