Whenever the band rehearses we like to have something to eat and over the years various comestibles have taken centre stage. Until very recently it has been the bread pudding described below. This came about accidently. Jean and I have a traditional Sunday breakfast of toasted English muffins, topped with goat cheese, some chopped spinach and poached eggs. One Sunday, for some reason, we had to skip breakfast and a packet of English muffins sat there sadly, threatening to go stale. I had also been defaulting to store-bought ‘band chow’ and was pondering what I might make for rehearsal that, while it might not be exactly ‘healthful’, might also not be full of unpronounceable ingredients. So, I thought “bread pudding!”. I did a quick Google search -- I’m not a baker, really -- and found a recipe. The recipe below is based on one that featured Bays English Muffins. I’ve adapted it slightly.
You might want more chocolate chips in there or you might choose to skip the chocolate all together. Chocolate can be a bit of a bully in puddings, overpowering everything else.
We would often have it with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy



4 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 pint heavy cream
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1 teaspoon lemon essence
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1/4 cup chocolate chips
2 ripe bananas
1 packet of English Muffins (6 muffins)

In a large bowl:
Combine the eggs, cream and sugar and beat with a whisk until they are well mixed and the sugar is no longer grainy.
Add the vanilla essence and lemon essence.
Add the chocolate chips and chopped bananas and mix in well.
Cut the muffins into 1/2 inch cubes and add to the mixture making sure that all the muffin pieces are submerged.
Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least for a few hours. Mix it up a few times to make sure all the muffin pieces get soaked. Add a little milk if necessary.

Preheat oven to 350º F

Butter a large pan -- 9” X 11” or thereabouts
Spoon or pour the mixture into it.
You may now place the pan in the oven or you may place it in a larger tray in the oven and pour boiling water into the tray. In either case, it’s a good idea to ‘tent’ the pan with a sheet of foil to keep in the moisture.
Bake for about 1 hour