BANANA, CARAMEL AND PEANUT PUDDING

For the salted caramel: 200ml water

450 grams sugar

125 grams liquid glucose Half a tsp Maldon salt 500ml double cream until mixture is the texture of breadcrumbs.

Tip onto a non-stick baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring every five minutes or so and loosening any large clumps, until the mixture is an even golden brown.

Tip into a bowl and cool completely before storing in a dry container.

Now for the salted caramel sauce: Put the water, sugar, and glucose into a pan and heat gently to dissolve, then raise the temperature and bring the liquid to a boil.

Take it to the caramel stage (the darker the caramel the stronger the sauce – I prefer a lighter caramel with this recipe) and add the cream off the heat.

Stir in the salt.

It will sputter so take care.

Return the pan to a gentle heat and Now to make the puddings: Heat the oven to 180°C. Brush your moulds or darioles with melted butter. Spread the ciabatta cubes on a non-stick baking tray and bake, turning occasionally, until a nice golden colour.

Dice one banana into small cubes. Place the remaining bananas, chopped roughly, along with the eggs, milk, cream, vanilla and sugar, plus half a teaspoon of cassia into a blender and whizz until smooth.

Layer up the bread and banana into each ramekin and pour over enough banana custard to half fill level.

Allow this to soak in for five minutes, then layer up more bread and banana, and fill to the brim with custard.

Sprinkle over a little Maldon salt, a dusting of ground cassia, and a little extra muscovado sugar.

Place the ramekins gently into your deep baking dish, and fill carefully with boiling water (I do this with a jug as the dish sits in the oven).

Bake, covering with foil loosely if necessary, for 25 to 35 minutes, until just set and wobbly, with a nice crunchy surface.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.

To serve, unmould each pudding and set on a suitable dessert plate.

Spoon some peanut crunch in a small pile and top this with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Drizzle or spoon over some salted caramel sauce and serve immediately.