Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding

After coming home from a quick weekend getaway, I realize that we have almost a full bag of buttermilk bread about to go stale. I wanted to avoid the inevitable waste, so I figured that I should whip up something to make it useful.

I found this recipe for pudding that had good reviews online and just tweaked it up a little bit to make it not too sweet. This is so yummy! My husband and son inhaled it. It's really good for using up old bread and over ripe bananas which is always the case in our house.

It's good to eat on its own but I prefer drizzling a vanilla sauce over it. I have the recipe for the pudding and vanilla sauce below.

CHOCOLATE BANANA BREAD PUDDING

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups bread, cubed
• 2 bananas, mashed
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 in x 8 in glass dish. See below if you don't have a glass dish. 

In a large mixing bowl, mix eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla until smooth.

Stir in bread, bananas, and chocolate chips, and let rest for 5 minutes.

Pour into prepared pan and bake in a preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

 Notes: If you don't have glass dish, you can use a regular loaf pan. But follow this for baking:

• Place loaf pan on a roasting pan lined with a damp towel.
• Fill roasting pan with water to reach halfway up the sides of the loaf pan.
• Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

VANILLA SAUCE

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• a dash of salt (equal to 1/8 tsp)

Directions:

Boil water in a saucepan. Stir in sugar and cornstarch. Simmer and stir constantly for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat then stir in the butter, vanilla and salt. Blend well.

Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding