Stale croissants to use up, again! These had been thrown in the freezer rather than the bin but even the freezer now was filling up the dried spoils of bakery visits.

I used a very special Easter gift here which billed itself as ‘salted caramel’ hot chocolate powder but worry not if, as 99.9% of the population will find, you don’t have this in your cupboard. Mars bars & cheese crackers add the requisite caramel and salt with the added bonus of being available year-round in most grocery retailers.

The bananas also came from the freezer. I had my eyes opened to the wonders of rescuing unwanted bananas from the bin using this approach some while ago now (see Begin at the Beginning) but have always peeled and carefully separated them for freezing. This time we were dashing out the door for a week’s break when the forlorn bananas were spotted & I asked a friend to freeze them. They went straight in, a bunch of 5 bananas. Whole and unpeeled.

What I learnt was that this works fine. Except if you haven’t separated the bunch at all you’ll need to defrost them all together, unless you can carefully separate them with a very sharp knife. They slide out of their skins very easily once defrosted, just open the top as normal and they squeeze out like an ice lolly from its cardboard case.

The final pudding can be eaten warm or cold as a dessert or portioned up for eating on the move. Will freeze well too.

Serves 6-8

Equipment

1. Stick blender
2. 20cm square oven-proof dish

Ingredients

1. 2 stale croissants
2. 2 ripe bananas (defrosted if using frozen)
3. 60g hot chocolate powder
4. 40g crackers for cheese, stale or otherwise (or dry bread if none to hand – don’t open any especially!)
5. 150ml milk
6. 1 egg
7. 50g mars bar, caramel bar or similar (optional)

Method

1. Slice the croissants into long, thin slices.
2. Cut the chocolate bar into bite sized pieces (if using).
3. Place the bananas into a container suitable for blending, needs to fit all the remaining ingredients.
4. Add the chocolate powder and loosely crumbled crackers.
5. Add the milk & egg.
6. Blend to a smooth liquid. The crackers were just adding a bit of salt & texture here (and using up a stale packet!). If you don’t have any, add a little bread or nothing at all but reduce the milk to around 120ml. All you are aiming for is enough liquid to cover the croissants and a texture that will set when cooked.
7. Grease your oven proof dish.
8. Place a single layer of croissants on the base.
9. Add just enough of the chocolate mixture to cover.
10. Dot with cubes of chocolate bar if using.
11. Repeat with as many layers of croissants, chocolate mixture & chocolate bar as you can manage (I did three). Finish with chocolate mixture (no chocolate bar exposed – this will burn).
12. Cover with cling film & allow the croissants to absorb the liquid – around 20 mins. Add a bowl to weight the top & aid the process.
13. Remove the weight and cling film and bake in a medium-hot oven (180ish) for around 30 minutes. Until set & a knife comes out clean.
14. Serve hot or cold for dessert, with cream or ice cream if you wish. Or portion once cold & eat on the move. Now or later – will keep for a few days in the fridge or freeze well.