29 August 2008

Banana bread and butter pudding



Thank you all so much for the lovely, heartwarming comments made yesterday. Congratulations to the winners of the stitcheries - Sharonskan, Vickie and Julie. Please send me your postal addesses and I'll get them in the mail early next week.

I had a few things to catch up on yesterday morning. I got the bedsheets washed and hung out to dry by mid-morning, remade the bed with fresh linen and warm quilts, fed the worms, talked to the chooks and fed them a feast of green leaves from the garden. Inside again, I baked bread, wiped the kitchen benches over and made a big pot of vegetable and barley soup. I put aside a few small containers of it to have for work lunches. Late in the day I made a banana bread and butter pudding.

Hanno went to the Foodbank on Wednesday to collect food for Centre and picked up a couple of large black bags of Baker's Delight bread while he was there. We pack the bread up, freeze it and give it to our people when they come in for food. I took a couple of the loaves home so I had a nice white loaf for the pudding. We also have a lot of bananas at the moment, and too many eggs, so a bread and butter pudding was the ideal thing to make.

You can use any fruit in this, or sultanas (golden raisins), or just spread jam on the bread. It's a very good recipe for a large family, just add more bread slices, use an extra egg and increase your milk.

BANANA BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING - enough for 6 people
8 slices of bread with crust removed
enough butter to cover all the slices
3 or 4 bananas, sliced thinly
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
600 mls (1 pint) milk
2 eggs

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F.

  • Butter the bread, cut into triangles and place half on the base of an ovenproof pudding or lasagna dish.
  • Sprinkle half the cinnamon and sugar over the bread.
  • Place half the bananas over the bread.
  • Then repeat those layers of bread, cinnamon/sugar and bananas.
  • Press it all down slightly so there aren't too many spaces underneath.
  • Lightly beat the eggs, add the milk and mix in.
  • Pour the egg milk mix over the pudding, making sure you wet everything with the milk.
  • Allow the pudding to stand for 10 minutes to let it all soak in, then place in the preheated oven to cook.
What you're aiming for is a soft custard around the bread and fruit. Overcooking with make the custard tough. It won't take long to cook, maybe 15 - 20 minutes. If the top hasn't turned brown but the bottom has cooked, put it under your griller (broiler) for a couple of minutes to brown the top.



I worked on the book proposal all yesterday afternoon with the smell of the soup cooking, and then the delicious aroma of baking custard and bananas. Mmmmmm. There is nothing better on a cold and dismal day than having tasty, simple food cooking slowly on the stove. Hanno and I had a bowl of soup each, a glass of water and then the pudding with blueberries. It didn't cost a lot to make but we ate well last night. Another bonus is that I don't have to cook tonight - and that saves time, electricity and money.

Suzan at Scrub Oak is having a 100th post giveaway. She has a lovely blog and is struggling with some decisions, not to mention, bears, at the moment. I'm sure you'll enjoy visiting her.




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32 comments

  1. I always enjoy your recipes - this looks delicious!

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  2. Oh that reminds me of when my Nana would make bread pudding or cracker pudding. I think I will need to make some this weekend to take to a family picnic. My Nana is in a nursing home and will be coming to the picnic. I think I will surprise her with your recipe as I know she will LOVE it!
    Thanks

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  3. sounds delightful! I'm going to have to give this one a try once our weather is cooler!

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  4. Looks yummy and we always have banannas in our house! I always print out your recipes.

    Manuela

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  5. I hurry to get home from work every night just to read your blog.. you have inspired me and I find myself thinking about canning, baking, and just living simply.... I find that I am much more calm and content.. and appreciate the little things in life.. that you so much.... cannot wait for your book... God Bless
    Renee/Boston USA

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  6. I never thought of putting banana in b&b pudding! Good idea.

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  7. That looks wonderful! I'll have to remember that when we finally get our "almost" cold weather. ;)

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  8. Hi RJ,
    The pudding looks great - I hadn't thought of putting banana in it! My usual one has sultanas or I use fruit bread if I have any left. I also don't trim off the crusts.
    My other favourite is rice pudding - I found a great recipe to make it in my slow cooker and I have posted it on my blog so everyone can try it.
    -hugs-
    Lis
    alteredcutlery.blogspot.com

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  9. Yummy. Definitely a cold weather treat! Around here if you look in the tops of trees you can see the trees are preparing for winter. Farmers Almanac said we're in for a long, cold, snowy winter. Been thinking though of the environmental impact to ship bananas here to Michigan. Perhaps I'll have to try a different fruit than bananas.

    Congrats to the winners of the lovely stitchery!

    P.S.-Our first dog was an airedale too, her name was Pansy.

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  10. Rhonda,
    I also enjoy your recipes. Thank you for sharing with us.
    Always love the way you open your heart and share with us.
    Blessings to you,
    Cathy

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  11. That bread pudding looks lovely! That is my favorite winter-time dessert only we use raisins & maple syrup instead of bananas. I will definitely give your version a try this winter.

    Congrats again on hitting the 500,000 mark. :-)

    Janet in Alberta Canada

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  12. Gosh that looks yummy! May give that a whirl this week as I bought a "job lot" of bananas as the wholesalers' late last week (£1 the box!), and apart from making Banana Jam with them, this pudding would use a few up.

    Congratulations to the winners of your stitchery give-away. I have photo-copied your designs and am going to make my own versions, which I am fairly itching to get started on!

    I was making soup yesterday too (ham and vegetable). Autumn has come a good month - 6 weeks early here, so it's going to be a loooong lead up to winter this year.

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  13. congratulations to the lucky three who won your stitcheries - they are lovely!
    Yes, in Scotland it's getting to be soup weather again, autumn is definitely on us - we're having butternut squash and ginger soup this evening, with bramble and apple crumble (if there are enough brambles in the hedgerows yet!)
    Pauline :-)

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  14. Hi Rhonda,

    I make a bread and butter pudding very similar to yours, but I put honey on the bread after I have buttered it, then mixed dried fruit and cinnamon. 2 eggs and a slob of cream made up to half a pint with milk Leave it in the fridge for about an hour....to allow the egg mixture to saok into the bread.......

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  15. oh I'm going to try this tonight! Hubby loves banana custard and bread pudding and this would be a combination of both!

    You are simply brilliant!

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  16. This looks so delicious! I'll have to try it. Do you think using wheat bread would ruin it?

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  17. Oooooooooo, when I saw Vickie as one of the three winners my heart was racing (it even had an "e"). In a second I knew exactly where I was going to hang my stitchery, then I scrolled down... :-) I am very happy for Vicki, she's probably as happy as I was if only for a few seconds this morning :-)

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  18. just a quick hello(I'm late again today tsk,tsk,) to say well done to the winners of the giveaway,

    that bananapud looks fab must try it thanks for the recipe Rhonda

    have a lovely weekend

    CB
    xx

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  19. Rhonda,
    I was away on vacation and have just catched up on reading the posts I missed while I was away. I wanted to say congratulations on the book, it's wonderful news for you!
    And even more congrats on the 500000th visitor. And what a bummer I wasn't here to participate in the giveaway. :-)

    Christine from the NL

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  20. Congratulations, Rhonda, on passing the half million!

    Also congrats to the winners of the stitchery. What a treasure!

    I love your pudding and will definitely be doing this one. B & B pudding is a bit special in this house as it was the first thing my son learned to cook when he first got around to watching what happened in the kitchen and asking if he could help, at about the age of 7. B & B pudding became his specialty for many years. Even now, when he is a much more sophisticated cook, he still falls back on it for comfort occasionally, and girlfriends are not allowed to mess with the job, as they never get it 'just right' ;)

    Thanks for sharing, as always.

    Kerrie

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  21. This recipe sounds simple and delicious , will have to make one soon.

    ~ Blessings ~
    JoyceAnn

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  22. that sounds good......we had a big bowl of homemade soup and bread for supper tonight and it was yummy.........

    Gill in Canada

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  23. Oh, that looks delicious! Thanks for the recipe!

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  24. That has my mouth watering. I've never made bread pudding before, but I will now.

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  25. I can taste this already. It doesn't use much sugar either which is something I'm trying real hard to limit. I've got a sweet tooth like you wouldn't believe!

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  26. Oh my goodness - that looks delicious!!! I am a recent fan of bread pudding. The whole foods near me has started making it with raisins, which I don't care for. I love bananans though! I will be trying this for sure.

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  27. Thank you for the direction to Scrub Oak; I've blogged again about simple living and hope it is helpful. And her embroidery is so pretty!

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  28. That really sounds delicious! We usually make a similar one with grated apples, it's quite a traditional one here in the Czech Republic, called "žemlovka". Often with raisins, too, but those who don't like them (like my sister) can omit them, of course. But bananas would be a good option for her, too. :-) I sent her a link to your blog, btw. I've just heard they've started making their own bread!
    With žemlovka, we usually don't pour the milk with eggs over it, but we dip the bread in it before putting it into the dish. Then, if some milk is left, we pour it over it. Oh yes, and we put it into usual tin baking pan, greased and covered in breadcrumbs.

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  29. Mmm Rhonda! This looks delicious! Can't wait for banana season to start - will have to keep your recipe in mind.

    Congratulations to the lucky winners of your giveaway!

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  30. I KNEW this would be good, so as soon as I saw it, I made it the next morning. Didn't have much milk, wasn't sure if the man and son would like it, so made half. Added some vanilla and a smidge of salt, cuz I was afraid it was going to be too sweet...not at all! I was scarfed immediately by the 3 of us and they were fighting over the last bit. I can't wait to make it again as there are always bananas and bread in the house.

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  31. Thank you so much Rhonda. I made this for desert the night before last, with home made bread cut thickly. It was the best. My husband loves bread and butter pudding but we havn't had it in a while and it's usually made with butter an jam on bread and sprinkling of sultanas. This one was a winner though, it was absolutley delicious. xoxox

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  32. that looks lovely!!

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