Salted Caramel Banana Bread Pudding Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat broiler. Butter eight 3/4-cup ramekins. Mix caramel sauce and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt in small bowl. Spoon 1 generous tablespoon caramel into each ramekin. Place bread on rimmed baking sheet. Spread 1 generous tablespoon caramel over each bread slice. Broil until caramel is bubbling and slightly darker, watching to avoid burning, 1 to 2 minutes. Cool.
• Cut each bread slice into 6 squares, for 48 pieces total. Set 1 banana slice on each bread square. Arrange 6 banana-topped bread squares standing on edge, side by side in each prepared ramekin, fitting snugly. Whisk eggs, half and half, milk, 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, vanilla, and 1/8 teaspoon sea salt in medium bowl. Pour enough custard into each ramekin to reach top. Let stand until bread absorbs some of custard, about 30 minutes. Reserve any remaining custard.
• Meanwhile, position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Pour remaining custard into ramekins. Brush exposed bread pieces with melted butter. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Set ramekins in large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into pan to come halfway up sides of ramekins. Bake puddings until set and knife inserted into custard comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Remove from pan; cool. DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
• Serve bread puddings warm or at room temperature.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Put the vanilla wafers in a food processor and pulse until the cookies are finely crushed. Reserve 1/2 cup to layer in and to top the pie. Pour the remaining crumbs in a 9-inch pie plate. Pour the melted butter over the top and, using a spoon or your hands, combine the ingredients. Press the mixture in the bottom and up the sides and onto the lip of the pie plate. Bake until lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Peel and slice the bananas, adding them to a bowl. Stir the salt into the caramel sauce and toss the banana slices with the salted caramel. Arrange some banana slices evenly over the bottom of the crust. Spread half of the warm Vanilla Pudding over the bananas, top with some more crushed vanilla wafers (reserving some for garnish) and more caramel-coated bananas. Spread the remaining Vanilla Pudding over the top.
• In a large bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Add the almond extract and sugar and beat until peaks form. Make sure not to overbeat, or the cream will become lumpy and butter-like. Spread the whipped cream over the pie. Just before serving, garnish with a caramel swirl and the rest of the crushed vanilla wafers.
• Combine the sugar and 1/3 cup water in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. This is the only time you can stir the sugar. If you stir it while it's cooking, it turns to rock candy. Place the saucepan over medium to low heat until the sugars start to dissolve, 5 to 10 minutes. Then turn the heat up to medium-high and cook until the sugar starts to caramelize, 5 to 7 minutes. Do not stir while this is happening. You've got to watch the pot, because it goes from caramel to burnt really quickly. And be careful, the mixture is extremely hot!
• Turn off the heat and stand back to avoid splattering. Slowly add the cream. Don't panic - the cream will bubble violently, and the caramel will solidify. Just give it more time to liquefy again-trust me!
• Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes. Allow the sauce to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. It will thicken as it sits.
• 3 cups.
• In a bowl, whisk together the sugar and flour until all of the lumps are gone. Once it is a fine powder, whisk in the egg yolks and whole eggs and continue whisking until a smooth paste is formed. Slowly whisk in 1 cup milk, and once this is incorporated add the remaining 1 cup milk. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it reaches the thickness of chilled pudding, 10 to 15 minutes. (Mixture will just begin to bubble and will be thick enough to hold soft peaks when the whisk is lifted.) Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Steps:

• To make the pudding:
• Whisk the eggs with the vanilla in a large bowl and set aside. Bring the milk, heavy cream, sugar, and salt to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Turn off the heat and whisk a little of the hot liquid into the egg mixture. Continue adding more hot milk until the eggs are tempered and the bottom of the bowl is warm to the touch and then return the egg mixture to the saucepan with the remaining milk. Turn the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or whisk, until the pudding thickens and you can draw a clear line through the custard on the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes (don't let the custard boil--this will cause the eggs to curdle). Pour the custard through a medium sieve and into a medium bowl. Whisk to cool slightly, cover flush with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until it is completely cool, about 2 hours.
• To make the caramel sauce:
• Microwave together the butter, heavy cream, and salt until the butter is melted (or melt the butter with the cream and salt in a small saucepan). Whisk to combine and set aside. Place the sugar and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Melt the sugar over medium-high heat, swirling the pan occasionally to evenly distribute the heat, until the sugar is a deep nutty brown and smells bittersweet, 10 to 12 minutes. Pour in the butter mixture (be careful-the sauce will hiss and bubble up) and then place the mixture back over medium-high heat to return it to a boil. Turn off the heat and set the saucepan aside to let the caramel cool to room temperature, 1 to 2 hours.
• To make the whipped cream:
• Place the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla (if using a vanilla bean, split the pod and scrape out the seeds, adding them to the cream; save the pod and place it in a jar of sugar to infuse it with vanilla flavor) in the bowl of a stand mixer (or large bowl if using a hand mixer) and whip it on medium speed until it is frothy. Increase the speed to medium-high and whip until you get stiff peaks. Refrigerate until you're ready to assemble the pudding.
• To assemble:
• Peel and thinly slice the bananas and set aside (wait to slice the bananas until you're ready to assemble the dish, otherwise, they'll brown). Evenly spread 1 cup whipped cream over the bottom of a large trifle dish or punch bowl. Top with a layer of bananas and 1 cup/240 ml pudding. Place about 20 wafers in a flat layer on top of the pudding and evenly drizzle 1/2 cup/120 ml caramel over the wafers. Repeat the layering process three times beginning with the whipped cream, followed by some sliced bananas, pudding, wafers, and caramel. Finish the pudding with a final layer of whipped cream (you should have about 1 cup remaining after repeating four layers), cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight. Serve in dessert bowls.

Steps:

• Combine the cream, butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Let the butter melt, then slowly simmer the cream until it reduces slightly, about 10 minutes. Be careful that the mixture doesn¿t boil over; if it does, reduce or remove from the heat.
• Break the bread up into 1-inch pieces. Day-old bread is best but any bread will work. Place the bread in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8-inch-by-8-inch cake pan.
• Add the reduced heavy cream mixture to the bread pieces and mix until combined. Transfer to the prepared cake pan and sprinkle the kosher salt over the top. You want just a light sprinkle to give it that salty and sweet taste. Bake until firm in the middle, like brownies, about 20 minutes. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
• Whisk flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt together in a bowl.
• Beat 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup brown sugar together in a bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until combined. Beat bananas and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract into butter mixture. Gradually add flour mixture, beating on low speed, just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Run knife around edges of bread and transfer to a wire rack.
• Heat 1/4 cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly with a whisk, until sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute. Stir cream into brown sugar mixture and remove saucepan from heat. Stir 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt into cream mixture until glaze is smooth. Drizzle glaze over loaf.