Brioche Bread Pudding with Duche de Leche

I always have a loaf of brioche in the freezer. It's a staple in my house, like apples and couscous and onions and garlic. There is nothing better than a brioche french toast to makes one's morning spectacular, or a brioche-nutella-banana panino when I'm craving for something sweet in the middle of the night.

While cleaning the pantry yesterday, I found the can of dulce de leche that I have been meaning to "test kitchen" to see if it's comparable to a homemade dulce de leche. I wanted to use this on a cupcake initially, but I was kinda idiotic this morning and cut-off the cheek/side of my index finger (yikes) while cutting brioche bread for toast, thus limiting my cooking capabilites for today (and I am guessing for the next few days), so I settled into making Brioche Bread Pudding with Dulce de Leche. I also had some one-more-day-and-I-will-be-overripe bananas in my counter and some left over pineapple from yesterday so I decided to toss those in, too.

Brioche Bread Pudding with Dulce de Leche

1 lb of Brioche, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 ripe bananas, cut into 1/4 inch cubes

1 cup pineapple, cut into 1/4 inch cubes

1/2 -3/4 cup granulated sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)

1 12-oz can of Evaporated Milk

1 cup 1% milk (you can use 2% or whole)

1 1/2 stick butter, melted

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 T dark rum

1 14-oz can of dulce de leche (or condensed milk)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9x13x3 baking pan. Arrange the bread, the bananas and pineapple in the pan so that it is distributed well. Sprinkle the sugar evenly into the bread mixture. Mix the evaporated milk, 1% milk, vanilla and rum. Add the melted butter to the liquid mixture and pour over the bread, distributing evenly and making sure everything gets saturated with the liquid. Do not mix, unless you want a soggy pudding. Let it sit for about 5 minutes just so the liquid can be absorbed by the bread to make the last step easier. Lastly, Spread the dulce de leche (or condensed milk) on top of the mixture.

Bake for about 40-45 minutes - just until you see the sides are pulling away from the pan and the center is solid when you insert a cake tester or a toothpick. Cool before slicing.

My brother, Marlon, loves loves loves bread pudding. I always make bread pudding for him when I go home. This one came out real tasty, so I will definitely make this for him next time. The marriage of the buttery brioche, the heady sweet taste of ripe bananas and pineapple and sweetness from the dulce de leche is like a little slice of heaven. Even better, served a la mode, it's like a plate of a very delicious sin (GRIN).