Nigella Lawson — Banana Bread†Scrumptious Banana Bread Pudding

The other day I went on a baking spree, resulting in a loaf of banana bread and 6 1/2 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. The cookies turned out great. The banana bread did not.

My apologies to Nigella Lawson. Her banana bread recipe has been my go-to gold standard since I started feeding bananas to Little Sprout sometime last spring. But I got overconfident.

Attempting to execute her recipe from memory, I added a whole stick of vegetable shortening (1 cup) instead of the ½ cup of butter called for in the recipe. Remarkably, the baked loaf held together. (Just barely.) It had a light crumb but an oily texture.

I'm not afraid to admit when I screw up. What I like even better is turning a failure into a success! So the greasy banana bread got a makeover into a dessert pudding.

Banana Bread Pudding ^‡
⅛ cup apricot brandy
½ cup raisins
1 loaf banana bread
½ cup graham cracker crumbs
½ bag (6 oz.) mini morsels chocolate chips
2 cups milk
½ cup butter, melted
1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract
4 eggs

Put the raisins and the brandy in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover, and leave for an hour, or until the raisins have absorbed most of the liquid. Drain remaining liquid into a mixing bowl.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 2 quart baking dish with non-stick baking spray.

Crumble banana bread into baking dish. Add graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chips and drained raisins. Mix thoroughly.

Combine milk, butter, vanilla, and eggs into the bowl with drained off brandy. Beat until blended. Pour over bread mixture, soaking thoroughly. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until set.
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† Link to original post about Nigella Lawson — Banana Bread and the Banana Bread Bake Off contest sponsored at Not Quite Nigella

‡ Special thanks to the incredible cooks in my dinner group for their advice on how to salvage a greasy loaf of banana bread.
You are my foodie heroes.

For examples of mouth-watering dishes my dinner group has made in the past year, read Food, Glorious Food