Bread pudding is satisfying in that it is delicious comfort food that also happens to use up the loaf of day-old bread you were otherwise going to toss. In its simplest form, it is custard that gets extra body from the bread to form something that is like a moist, eggy cake. It is generally not sweet enough on its own and will usually get a caramel or cream sauce on top. This recipe makes it extra easy by simply using maple syrup. Nearly any of our barrel-aged syrups would be delicious with it but I highly recommend the Banana Rum Infused.
1 loaf of day old bread such as a French or Italian loaf, for roughly 4 cups of bread cubes
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups sliced bananas
2 Tbsp butter
Runamok’s Banana Rum Infused, Rum Barrel-aged or any of the barrel-aged syrups
Preheat the oven to 375 and butter a 9×13 casserole dish. Cut the bread into 1” cubes and set aside.
In a medium sized bowl, beat the milk, cream, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt. Add the bread cubes and press them into the liquid mixture until it is totally absorbed. If the cubes are not completely saturated with a little extra liquid in the bowl, mix together an extra egg and ½ cup milk and douse the bread cubes. Let it sit for 20 minutes.
Add the sliced bananas and gently fold them in until equally distributed but still intact. Pour into the casserole dish and spread it evenly. Dot the top with a few pats of butter. Put in the oven and bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until a fork inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cut into squares and serve with Banana Rum Infused Maple, Rum Barrel-aged Maple Syrup or any Runamok barrel-aged syrup.