Banana Rum Bread Pudding

three slices of banana bread pudding drizzled in caramel sauce

This is the ultimate indulgent dessert to make if you want maximum results with minimum effort. Caramelized bananas perfumed with dark rum make this divine bread pudding a must. I promise you will be whisked away to your favorite Caribbean destination in no time.

I was invited not long ago by another Colombian food blogger to participate in a #breadpuddingchallenge. The idea was to address the issue of stale bread and food waste.

I hate food waste, but truth be told, 9 out of 10 times I end up grocery shopping right around the time I should be having lunch. I also tend to forget to tear out my grocery list from the grocery notepad that hangs on my fridge door, so I end up buying way more food than I need.

This means I have to get extra creative to cook, store, and sometimes even unload batches of food to neighbors and friends.

uncut banana rum bread pudding with rum glasses

That being said, stale bread has never really been an issue for me. For starters, I've never really been much of a bread person. Cake, on the other hand, is my weakness. And frankly, Frenchie devours bread like nothing you have ever seen before.

That man will polish off a whole loaf of sourdough in half a day. It goes so fast sometimes I wonder if he's stashing it in his closet instead of eating it.

Furthermore, saving stale bread in pudding always seemed so counter-intuitive. The use of eggs, milk, sugar, cream, and fruit for a couple of slices of dry bread didn't seem cost-effective.

But I was challenged, and because I am so naturally competitive, I just had to participate.

bananan rum bread pudding with rum cream and drizzled with rum caramel sauce

So I began thinking, how could I take something so very British like bread pudding and give it a Colombian spin?

I thought about coffee, chocolate, and passionfruit for a while. But then it struck me, why not go for a full-on Caribbean vibe? I'm talking bananas, and rum, and arequipe aka dulce de leche to all you non-Colombians.

The truth is, I had a couple of over-ripe bananas sitting on the counter waiting to be made into banana muffins when I remembered my father's Bananes Flambées.

Growing up, I disliked Bananas Foster with every inch of my body. Thinking back, it probably has something to do with the fact that kids don't usually gravitate towards boozy desserts.

Unfortunately for me, dad's Bananes Flambées were on the menu more often than not.

This is how it usually went down.

On Friday, my father would announce that those perfect sunshine-yellow bananas sitting in the fruit bowl were over-ripe. My brothers and I would argue that they looked perfect for a chocolate sundae.

As a side note, my father likes under-ripe fruits and veggies. Bananas have to be a yellowish-green for him to enjoy, tomatoes that started blushing are way too ripe for him, and he takes his mangoes as soft as rocks.

So when it came to Bananas Foster, it didn't matter that we outnumber him 3 to 1, we always lost that battle. My mother would intervene. She would promise us to go out for a sundae, and then agree with my father while persuading him to let the bananas sit on the counter for a couple more days.

This was diplomacy at its best.

But then came the dreaded Sunday dinner. A dinner we could not escape, after all, Monday was a school day.

After dinner, my dad would jump up and grab a pan, the butter, some sugar, the rum, and the not-so-over-ripe-bananas.

cut banana rum bread pudding with rum glasses and palm tree

First, he would melt the sugar with butter until he had a nice caramel, then the bananas went in that lovely caramel sauce. Up to this point, we were all very enthusiastic about bananes flambées. But alas, out came the rum.

My father was never a drinker, in fact, I think the last time he had a beer was well over twenty years ago, yet when making bananas foster, he would always go heavy-handed on the rum.

Truth be told, he had a bit of a pyro streak, aka meaning, he loved flambeing all-the-dishes. Think sugar plum pudding at our "Christmukah" (Christmas + Hannukah) celebration. Crêpes Suzette was also a classic at our house. And now that I think about it, dad was not a stranger to Steak Diane, and on one or two occasions that my mom made Baked Alaska, my father jumped on the opportunity to torch my mother's over-the-top ice cream.

But I'm going a bit off-topic here.

My ten-year-old-self hated spirit-soaked desserts. It took me many decades to reconcile with boozy desserts and banana flavor anything other than plain bananas. Yeah, I was that person who would turn down banana bread and banana cream puffs.

But not anymore.

I wish I could go back in time and enjoy my father's Banane Flambées. He certainly poured so much enthusiasm and love when he made them, despite his offspring's dislike.

But seeing as how impossible that is I will have to content myself with this dad-inspired banana rum bread pudding and hope that the next time I'm in Bogotá he will make me some Bananas Foster and play some of our old family videos.

If there is something that man loved even more than flambeeing things that would be recording every second of our very happy childhood.

So without furter ado here’s my dad inspired Banana Rum Bread Pudding.

bananas foster, bananes flambés, bread pudding, no food waste, summer dessert, summer recipes.

dessert, easy to make, simple dessert, elegant dessert,

Caribbean cuisine, American cuisine, Colombian cuisine.

Yield: 12

Author: Michelle Bessudo

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Prep time: 5 MCook time: 30 MTotal time: 35 M

This is the ultimate indulgent dessert to make if you want maximum results with minimum effort. Caramelized bananas perfumed with dark rum make this divine bread pudding a must. I promise you will be whisked away to your favorite Caribbean destination in no time.

Ingredients:

For the Banana Rum Bread Pudding

300 ml of milk
400g of stale bread
100 ml of heavy cream
100 ml dark rum (preferably Colombian) divided into two equal parts.
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 over-ripe bananas
1 pinch of salt
1 large knob of butter
4 tbsp dulce de leche
3 tbsp grated jaggery (panela rallada) you can substitute for soft dark brown sugar if you can't get a hold of jaggery.
3 large eggs

For the rum Whipped Cream

150 ml of heavy cream chilled
2 tbsp. dark rum
2 tbsp. dulce de leche
1 pinch of salt

Instructions:

For the Banana Rum Bread Pudding

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F)
Grease and line a loaf tin with parchment paper.
Peel the bananas and cut length-wise.
Put butter, sugar (or panela) in a pan over medium-high heat until the sugar melts and begins to caramelize.
Gently place bananas cut side down into the caramel and cook them for one minute.
Pour the rum over the bananas. Once the rum stops bubbling, flip the bananas over, and cook for another minute. Remove from heat.
Prepare the stale bread by cutting off the darker crusts and then trim down the slices of bread in such a way that they will fit in the baking tin properly and without overlapping. Set aside.
In a large bowl spoon in the dulce de leche, add the pinch of salt, and crack in the eggs. Whisk the ingredients together until they are well combined.
Add vanilla, milk, rum, and heavy cream and continue whisking until you have a smooth, even custard.
Start layering the bread pudding by arranging two banana halves into the pan, make sure to place the cut side down.
Cover the bananas with an even layer of the sliced bread.
Evenly drizzle a third of the custard. Try to get all the bread slices covered.
Cut the remaining bananas into even chunks. Distribute half of the banana chunks over the soaked bread.
Cover the bananas with another layer of the sliced bread and ladle half of the remaining liquid.
Continue layering the ingredients one last time.
Bake the bread pudding for 30 min.

For the Rum Whipped Cream

While the pudding cools enough to remove it from the baking pan, start the rum whipped cream. In a large bowl, add the chilled heavy cream, the dulce de leche, and the pinch of salt. Mix the ingredients until combined and then beat the cream until soft peaks form with either a whisk or an electric mixer.
Add the rum, and continue beating the cream until stiff.
This pudding is best enjoyed while it's still warm with a dollop of the rum whipped cream.

Calories

282

Fat (grams)

12.2

Sat. Fat (grams)

6.7

Carbs (grams)

26.4

Fiber (grams)

3

Net carbs

29.4