Easy Pineapple Bread Pudding

Because I have a sweet tooth and it's been a bit chilly here these last few days, I felt like making something sweet and warm...bread pudding seemed to fit the bill pretty nicely.  By the way, I know the rest of the country is buried under snow right now but we're not used to it being 30-some degrees during the day here in Arizona. So, no snickers from you Midwesterners and Eastcoasties about how cold it is to me aight?

My mother used to make bread pudding all the time but I never paid attention to how she did it because I would conveniently disappear when the dirty kitchen utensils, pots, & pans started to pile up in the sink.

Today I didn't want to spend a whole lot of time in the kitchen so I looked up recipes online for bread pudding that could be made in a crock pot. Bingo, I found this one on CDKitchen.com and adapted it to suit my own taste.

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 cup salted butter, softened

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

8 eggs

6 cups bread cubes, Italian and/or Semolina bread (cubed or cut in small pieces)

2 cans (15.25 oz size) unsweetened pineapple tidbits, drained

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup raisins

1 banana (not overly ripe), cut into small pieces

Because I had spaghetti for dinner yesterday, I used what was left of a loaf of semolina bread (about half) and then used a full loaf of Italian bread for this recipe.  

Break the bread into small pieces like shown below and let it dry out the day before you make this.  If you don't want to wait, toast the bread on a baking sheet in the oven at 375 degrees for about 4 minutes  or until fairly dried out. 

In a large bowl, beat sugar, butter, and cinnamon with a mixer.  Add eggs and beat until mixture is thoroughly combined.  By the way, I wasn't too keen on the idea of using 8 eggs so the next time I make it I'm going to see what happens if I cut it back to 6. 

Fold in bread cubes, walnuts, raisins, banana, and pineapple into the mixture and stir with spoon until bread is coated.  

Pour into crock pot.  Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours.

When it's done, the finished bread pudding will look like below..cinnamony goodness.

Top with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and serve the dish to your femme while on your knees. Ha! Just kidding! I was checking to make sure you were paying attention! Were you?

The walnuts give the bread pudding a crunchy texture and the cinnamon, pineapple and banana create a mellow blend of flavors that will cause your taste buds to do a happy dance all over your tongue!