White Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding

By Connie

Ingredients

• Chocolate Sauce:
• Ingredients
• 4 4 2 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus 2 tablespoons room temperature
• 4 4 * 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/4 1 1/4 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
• 3 3 * 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 1 * 1 cup milk
• 1 1 * 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 1/2 * 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1 * 1 cup dried cherries
• 6 6 * 6 cups day-old bread cubes (1/2-inch)
• 6 6 * 6 ounces white chocolate, chopped
• 2 2 1/2-inch 2 ripe bananas, diced into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 2 * 2 tablespoons dark rum
• 2 2 * 2 tablespoons banana liqueur
• * Drunken Monkey Ice Cream, recipe follows
• * Chocolate Sauce, recipe follows
• * Fresh mint leaves, for garnish
• * Powdered sugar, for garnish
• 1 1 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 8 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 2 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 1/2 cups

Details

Servings 10

Preparation

Step 1

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Brush a 14-inch oval baking dish with 2 tablespoons of butter. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, 1 cup brown sugar, cream, and milk. Add the vanilla, cinnamon, cherries, bread, and chocolate, and stir to blend thoroughly.

Set a 10-inch saute pan over medium-high heat and add the 2 tablespoons of the room temperature butter to the pan; once melted, add the diced bananas to the pan and saute for 3 minutes. Add the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar to the pan and saute until the sugar is melted, about 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the rum and banana liqueur to the pan. Return the pan to the heat and ignite the alcohol. Once the flames die out, fold the bananas into the bread pudding base. Stir the remaining 2 tablespoons butter into the mixture and pour into the baking dish.

Bake until firm, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on rack until just warm. Place a square of the pudding down on the plate, with a scoop of the Drunken Monkey Ice Cream. Drizzle the Chocolate Sauce over the ice cream and bread pudding and garnish with the mint leaves and powdered sugar.

Chocolate Sauce:

1 cup heavy cream

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a small, heavy saucepan, bring the cream to a bare simmer over low heat. Place the chocolate pieces in a medium bowl. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes. Whisk in the vanilla and continue whisking until the sauce is smooth and thickened. Let the sauce cool to room temperature before serving.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups