Caramelized Banana Bread Pudding

I must admit that I am not a huge dessert person. In fact, in my house – fruit satisfies our sweet tooth the majority of the time. However, every now and then we do crave a fattening yummy dessert! As I was grocery shopping the other day, I noticed a huge container of stale croissants on the clearance rack. They caught my eye, and I immediately thought of bread pudding!! I also remembered that I had a couple of over ripe bananas that I needed to do something with, so I came up with the idea of bread pudding smothered in banana foster/caramelized bananas topped with vanilla ice cream! This was so simple, cheap and absolutely delicious … everyone loved it!

Bread Pudding Ingredients:

• 16oz of croissants (preferably 1-2 days old/stale)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup of half & half
• 2 cups of unsweetened almond milk (or regular milk will do)
• 1 ½ cups of dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• ½ tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon of salt
• 2/3 cup of chopped pecans (optional)

Banana Foster/ Caramelized Banana Ingredients:

• 2 ripe bananas (sliced)
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons of dark brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon of cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 nips of Bacardi gold
• 1 tablespoon of water

Directions for Bread Pudding:

1. Set oven to 375°F.
2. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray.
3. Cut croissants into medium/large chunks and place into baking dish.
4. In a mixing bowl (all bread pudding ingredients): whisk together eggs, half & half, almond milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg and salt.
5. Pour mixture over croissants in the baking dish. (Make sure everything is coated evenly.) Cover dish with plastic wrap or tin foil and let mixture soak into croissants for about 10-15 minutes.
6. Next, place dish into the oven and cook for 40-45 minutes uncovered. Half way through – (at 20 minutes), check on bread pudding and rotate the baking dish.

Directions for Banana Foster/ Caramelized Bananas:

1. Slice each banana into circles.
2. Place a sauté pan on the stove and set heat to medium/low.
3. Melt butter in pan. Once butter is almost melted – add brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Mix together to a smooth consistency and add sliced bananas.
4. Turn heat up to medium. Add Bacardi Rum and simmer for about 3 minutes (let alcohol cook off). Turn heat back down to low.
5. Add water to loosen the banana mixture up and simmer for 3-5 minutes on low.

I do not recommend pouring the whole banana mixture on top of entire bread pudding – Serve individually! Serve a scoop of bread pudding, a scoop of caramelized bananas and top with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream (I used “Talenti”), as well as chopped pecans!