Banana Bread Pudding

I originally made this dish for my friend’s 50th birthday, and we were all a bit in love. It translates well to a reci­pe fit for the whole family.

Egg cracking, measuring, whisking, banana mashing, bread cutting (easy with even a kid’s knife, and the cubes don’t have to be perfect at all) — all very doable. Younger kids will need an adult on hand to help get the dish in and out of the oven, but other than that this is a dish that any enthusiastic kid would be thrilled to serve up for breakfast or otherwise.

BANANA BREAD PUDDING

• Butter or cooking spray, for the pan
• 1 loaf challah or other bread (about 1 pound), cut into cubes
• 4 large eggs
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 very ripe bananas, mashed

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with butter or cooking spray.

Arrange bread cubes on rimmed baking sheet. Toast in oven 10 minutes, or until the outsides firm up just a bit. Remove but leave oven on.

In large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Add mashed bananas and mix well. Stir in bread cubes, then let sit about 10 minutes so bread absorbs some of the liquid.

Transfer to prepared baking dish. Bake about 50 minutes, or until the pudding is set and puffy, and top is golden brown.

Cool on wire rack 15 to 20 minutes, or until pudding firms up a bit but is still warm. Serves 6.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving: 670 calories, 25 g fat, 13 g saturated fat, 215 mg cholesterol, 680 mg sodium, 93 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 48 g sugar, 18 g protein