Memories of Easters Past

I found this recipe on "My Diverse kitchen" on line. It's made simular to the one my mother usta make but no bananas or apples in my mothers recipe.
Capirotada (Mexican Bread pudding )
Ingredients:1 medium loaf of day-old sliced bread(usually bread rolls called “bollillos” are used) 3 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp4 ½ cups water1 ¾ cups jaggery (instead of pilonchillo/ brown sugar)2 sticks of cinnamon4 cloves3 star anise2 cups grated mild cheddar cheese½ cup roasted, unsalted peanuts¼ cup slivered blanched almonds½ cup raisins 2 medium sized bananas, thinly sliced(you can use thin apple slices as well, proportionately reducing the banana)Method:If using sliced bread (as I did), remove crusts and butter the slices on one side. Cut each slice into two and place on a cookie sheet (or two sheets) with buttered side facing up. Bake at 180C for 10 -15 minutes till golden brown. I pulsed the peanuts and almonds, separately, in my mixer/ blender jar to just crush them. Otherwise chop them up into pieces. I used jaggery here as it seems similar to pilonchillo. I also like the flavor that jaggery lends to sweet dishes.Put the jaggery and water in a pan, stir, and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat, add the cinnamon, cloves and star anise and simmer for about 20 minutes, uncovered. Turn off the heat and allow to cool. The flavours of the spices would have infused into the syrup. Remove the whole spices.Grease a deep pie dish with ½ tbsp butter (I used my 6” by 6” by 2 ½ “cake tin).Keep aside about 2 tbsp of the peanuts and ¼ cup grated cheese.Spread one third of the bread to cover the bottom of the pie dish. Sprinkle half of the remaining peanuts and half of the almonds over this. Now layer half the sliced banana and then half of the remaining cheese over this. Now pour 1 cup of the syrup all over this so that the bread can soak it up.Repeat this process with another one third the bread, remaining peanuts, almonds, sliced bananas, grated cheese and another 1 cup of syrup.Now arrange the last one third of the bread pieces. Sprinkle the grated cheese and peanuts that was initially kept aside. Pour the last 1 cup of syrup over this and dot with remaining ½ tbsp butter.