Banana Chocolate Bread Pudding

Over the Memorial Day weekend, my friend and I wanted to bake something. We had a few over-ripe bananas, but instead of making banana bread, we wanted to try something new. So we got this recipe from her How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook.

Ingredients

3 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) of butter
8 thick slices of bread (crusts removed if very thick)
2 very ripe bananas
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks
1.5 teaspoons ground cardamom

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Put the milk, sugar, salt, and butter in a small saucepan over low heat and warm just until the butter melts. Meanwhile, butter a 1.5-quart or 8-inch square baking dish (glass preferable) and cut or tear the bread into bite-sized pieces (but not too small). 

2. Put the bread in the baking dish and pour the hot milk over it. Let it sit for a few minutes, occasionally submerging any pieces of bread that rise to the top.

3. Mash the bananas and then stir the bananas and chocolate into the bread. Sprinkle in the cardamom. Set the baking dish in a larger baking pan and pour enough hot water into the baking pan to come up about an inch from the top of the dish.

4. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a knife/toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or nearly clean; the center should be just a little wobbly.

So yummy! I would love to try this recipe with caramel instead of chocolate; then it would taste like Bananas Foster!