Maple Peanut Butter Breakfast Bread Pudding

This is a peanut butter lover's paradise. It is my all-time favorite peanut butter recipe.  I am not even kidding you...I was practically drooling while eating it.  If you like peanut butter, you will absolutely LOVE this.  It is very peanut buttery - but hey, you can never have too much peanut butter in my opinion.  It's adapted from a recipe on peanutbutterlovers.com (yes, there really is such a website...and I happen to go on it often.  not obsessively or anything.) and I added the special topping to make it even more spectacular.  The topping is a sweet-and-salty mix from my nutella peanut butter pillows.  I wouldn't change anything about this recipe...it's so perfectly rich and full of delightful peanut butter flavor.  Definitely have a glass of milk at your side when you dig into this dish.  You'll be licking your lips and wanting more.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups cubed brioche or challah bread (cut into 3/4 inch cubes)
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup crushed peanuts


Garnish:
1/4 cup of finely ground, roasted (regular peanuts are fine too) peanuts (run through the food processor)
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. of ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. of sea salt


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter four 4-ounce ramekins. Mix 1/3 cup peanut butter, eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla and salt. Toss bread cubes in mixture until thoroughly coated. Divide evenly among prepared dishes. Bake until custard is set in the middle and the top is golden, about 35-40 minutes. 


Note: If tops of bread brown too quickly, cover ramekins loosely with aluminum foil. 


While pudding is baking, blend 1/3 cup peanut butter with maple syrup; transfer to small saucepan and heat on low until thoroughly warmed.
To serve, drizzle ramekins with maple-peanut sauce and garnish.  


*If you choose not to garnish with this topping - which you really should, powdered sugar or whipped cream is good too.