I was inspired by Kristine Fraser and decided I would also try making Disney World foods at home. Which is awesome because Disney foods but even more awesome because I rarely cook anymore…(I’m skipping the Dole Whip from her list, because that’s not an official recipe, I don’t care what anyone says. Dole Whip is vegan and that recipe isn’t vegan. Also, we have the official Dole Pineapple Frozen Yogurt mix which DOES make more realistic Dole Whip anyway.)
(Oops, forgot that Kristine had done this one. You can see her version here.)
You win some and you lose some. Should have quit while you were ahead.
Both ring true when I think back to that fateful day when I decided to make the O’hana Breakfast Bread in the morning and then make the O’hana Bread Pudding (using that Breakfast Bread) at night.
I read a lot of recipes and blog posts about the recipes. I watched several videos (much to TW’s annoyance.) I was fairly confident that if I could get the bread right, then the bread pudding would follow along nicely. That was my theory.
Let’s start, as one should start, at the beginning. The O’hana Breakfast Bread. I ended up with this recipe, (sorry – it’s all the way at the bottom of the page), except I added a light glaze on the top because that bread DOES have a glaze.
I actually made the pineapple coconut filling the night before and left it in the refrigerator. And either I’m really good at draining a can of pineapple or that extra time solved a problem that most people have with their pineapple mixture being super wet and runny and messy. Mine was thick and fabulous. Not a runny, drippy mess.
This recipe – it turned out pretty much perfect and as close to the real thing as I think you can get.
Winning. Super easy.
Then came the O’hana Bread Pudding. I went with this version of the recipe. I followed it to the letter except, I did not flambe’.
It was a catastrophe.
When my bread came out of the oven, it still felt kind of wet and gooey. I should have toasted it longer. Or made this after the bread was less fresh, I think. It did soak up the custard mixture nicely and the custard set pretty well but the darn thing never REALLY came together. Which might have been ok because chunks of bread alongside custard could taste ok… but there were bigger issues.
Just as I poured the rum into the bananas foster, I realized the top of the bread pudding was getting way too dark so I reached down to pull it out and cover it and… I tipped the handle of the pan and boozy hot caramely goo went all OVER my stove and floor and missed the dog and my foot by about 1/2″. I shut off the heat, shut off the oven because burning bread pudding… cleaned the bottom of the gooey pan, shifted to a different burner, covered the bread pudding with foil, brought the damn bananas back to boil and…
I apparently forgot to turn the oven back on.
And, the bananas foster never did thicken up again.
We attempted to eat it – with ice cream and without – it was TOO sweet. That was the biggest problem, really. We possibly could have eaten it if it just had not been that sweet.
I thought I might salvage half the bowl by warming it the next day and not adding bananas foster… but Buster had other ideas and found a way to pull the rest of the bowl onto the floor. He didn’t have any trouble wolfing it down before I got to it. No accounting for taste.
Did I mention I don’t LIKE bread pudding – even when it’s a good bread pudding?
Whatever. Hmph.