Banana Bread & Butter Pudding

This recipe should include a good slug of brandy but my shithead eldest found my beloved Henessey XO and drained it. My own parents will celebrate this as some kind of poetic, slow-release karma. Anyway, assuming your eldest has not surreptitiously chugged your brandy, I recommend you add some.

This is a very doable recipe with ingredients most of us have at hand. In our home, there's always a few bananas browning in a bowl, and if you're brave enough to delve into the lower regions of our bread bin, you'll find plenty that's ready to be puddinged. Just don't dig too deep; some things are best left undisturbed.

If you don't have bananas, don't use them. If you have raisins not dates, that's fine too. Be creative. The only things you can't do without are the bread, butter, sugar and eggs. At a push, you could swap the cream for milk - just be extra generous with the butter to bolster the richness.

Banana Bread & Butter Pudding

~ serves 4-6 ~

Ingredients

8-10 slices of stale bread

100g butter, at room temp

3 eggs

250ml of pouring/single cream

2-4 ripe bananas - preferably previously frozen

15 or so dried dates

half tsp vanilla extract

4 tbs caster or soft brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Nice but not essential

20ml brandy

2 tbs desiccated or shredded coconut

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Banananananananas

If you want your bananas to go on and on, peel them and pop them in the freezer. Thanks to my partner, we always have a stash of frozen bananas in a ziplock bag. When they defrost they break down to a mushier consistency, which is great for baking. We use them straight from the freezer in smoothies - just snap them into chunks and blitz with some milk, honey and yoghurt.

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Method

Crack the eggs into a blender. Add the cream, two defrosted bananas, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon and brandy if you have it. Blend until smooth.

Generously butter the bread. Slice diagonally into triangles - halves or quarters - whatever helps you arrange it in the tray.

Choose a dish that's big enough to fit all the bread in two or three layers.

Arrange a layer of buttered bread on the bottom of your baking tray. It's just like Tetris - try to squish in each layer with no gaps. Then sprinkle with half the chopped dates. Add another layer of bread and sprinkle over the remaining dates. Add the final layer of bread.

If you're only using two layers of bread, sprinkle all the dates in the first layer - they'll burn if they're on the outside.

Pour the egg mixture over the bread and let it soak for at least 20 minutes. A few hours in the fridge is ideal but not essential.

Now, If you have extra bananas, slice them in half lengthways and arrange on top.

Sprinkle the desiccated or shredded coconut over the pudding and finish with an extra sprinkle of caster sugar to create a nice crust.

Bake at 180C (fan forced) for 30-45 minutes. Keep an eye on the coconut - it can burn if you're not careful. You're waiting for it to turn an appetising golden brown.

I always pop a few extra knobs of butter on top ten minutes before the end, to help the coconut crust along.

Serve with cream, sour cream or ice cream. A shot of brandy would be nice too.