Chocolate Banana Bread & Butter Pudding

Bread & Butter Pudding is a proper “comfort food” dessert. It’s a great way to use up stale bread, and simple to make. Not only that, but you can pretty much throw in anything you want with the bread and it’ll be a winner!

I actually made a savoury version with ham and mushrooms recently, and it went down very well. However, savoury is NOT what we do here!

Any kind of bread works, but I would recommend a sourdough or wholemeal option. Other recipes often suggest cutting off the crusts, but I enjoy the texture that they add when baked. They also tend to use thin slices of bread, but I prefer medium slices. Thick slices will require more custard, and more time to soak, but you will have a much more dense and indulgent pudding at the end.

Other delicious ingredient suggestions include: raspberries, flaked almonds, coconut, rum, cinnamon, sultanas, raisins, walnuts, chocolate chips, carob powder, apricots, double cream…the list is endless!

Ingredients

200g pitted dates
100g unsweetened cocoa powder
1tsp vanilla extract
100g coconut oil, melted
8 slices of stale bread
Unsalted butter
3 bananas, sliced
350ml milk
3 large eggs

Method

• Put the dates, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and melted coconut oil into a food processor, and blitz for approximately 2-3 minutes, or until completely smooth.
• Spread a thick layer of butter one side of each slice of bread. Cut each slice into 4 triangles.
• Arrange a layer of bread, buttered-side up, in the bottom of an ovenproof dish, then add a layer of banana slices. Note: I used 1.5 bananas per layer.
• Repeat with layers of bread and bananas until you have used up all the  bread, then set aside.
• Gently warm the milk until hot, but not boiling. Do not let it boil.
• Remove from the heat, and add in the chocolate/date mixture and combine thoroughly.
• Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk.
• Add the eggs to the chocolate milk mixture and stir well.
• Pour the custard over the prepared bread layers, then leave to stand for a minimum of 30 minutes, or util the bread has soaked up plenty of moisture.
• Preheat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas Mark 4.
• Bake the pudding for 20-25 minutes, or until the custard has set and the top is firm.
• Serve warm or cold, with fresh bananas, natural yoghurt, mascarpone or au natural. A sugar-free custard would also be delicious on a cold evening!