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Caramelized Banana Bread Pudding with Vanilla Custard

Perfect for late winter/early spring, this recipe takes a classic bread pudding and adds a test. Challah bread soaked in brown butter cinnamon custard, mixed with bananas and brown sugar, then baked. To make this extra special, the bread pudding is chilled, then grilled with butter and sugar, and topped with a homemade vanilla custard sauce.
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Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings: 8 slices
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

Bread Pudding
  • ¼ cup unsalted butter
  • ½ cup dark brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon espresso powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 1 pound loaf of Challah bread (preferably a few days stale) sliced into roughly 1 inch cubes
  • 2 large bananas sliced into circles (roughly 1 cm in width)
Cinnamon Brown Sugar
  • ¼ cup dark brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Vanilla Bean Custard
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • ¼ cup honey
  • 2 ¼ cups heavy cream
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
  • a pinch salt
For Serving
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup dark brown sugar
  • salted butter

Method
 

Make the bread pudding
  1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter, stirring frequently. Once melted, it will begin to sizzle and foam before starting to brown. Once brown, remove from the heat and pour into a large mixing bowl. Let the butter cool for 5 minutes.
  2. To the slightly cooled brown butter, add the brown sugar, cinnamon, espresso powder, and salt and use a whisk to combine. The mixture won't really mix completely, it will be a thick paste. Whisk in the eggs one at a time until smooth and combined, and then stir in the whole milk and heavy cream. The custard should be a thin, pourable consistency. Add in the bread and sliced bananas and stir together with a spatula until the bread is evenly coated with the custard. Let the bread sit in the bowl while we preheat the oven.
  3. Preheat the oven to 375℉. Grease a 9 inch loaf pan with butter and set aside.
Make the cinnamon sugar and bake
  1. While the bread sits and the oven preheats, toss together the cinnamon and cinnamon in a small bowl.
  2. Once the oven is hot, add half of the bread pudding to the loaf pan. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon sugar. Add the remaining half of the bread pudding, and sprinkle the rest of the cinnamon sugar on top.
  3. Bake for 30 minutes in the center rack of the oven. After 30 minutes, rotate the pan and bake for another 25 minutes or so. Remove from the oven and let cool for 1 hour in the pan set on a wire cooling rack. Then, cover with foil and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Make the vanilla custard
  1. In a large saucepan, whisk the eggs and honey together. Add the salt and heavy cream and whisk to combine. Allow this to come to a boil on medium heat, whisking constantly. Make sure you keep the mixture constantly moving, or the eggs will curdle. The mixture should thicken slightly as it cooks, and can easily coat the back of a wooden spoon. This will take around 5-8 minutes. Remove from the heat and immediately stir in the vanilla.
  2. Pour the custard into a jar and seal tightly. Chill the custard for at least 4 hours. Custard will thicken as it chills.
Serving
  1. Toss together the granulated and brown sugar.
  2. Slice the chilled bread pudding into the desired number of servings. Spread softened salted butter over one side of each slice. Melt 1 Tablespoon of salted butter on a skillet over medium heat and place the bread pudding on the pan non-buttered side down. While it cooks, sprinkle the buttered side of each slice of the bread with 1 Tablespoon of the sugar mixture, and use your hands to slightly pat it in. (This helps it stick when you flip it). Once the bottom side is golden brown, flip the slice over to cook the side with the sugar. Cook for 2 minutes or so, and the sugar will be melty and caramelized.
  3. Serve hot off the pan with a generous spoonful of the vanilla custard.