If you have some leftover croissants and aren't sure what to do with them, this recipe for Croissant Bread Pudding should come in handy. It's a fabulous dessert and a great way to use extra croissants. The original recipe is from Michael Chiarello and you can find it on Food TV. My version is a half batch baked in an 8 inch square dish.
Melted Ice Cream Bourbon Custard Sauce
The custard for Croissant Bread Pudding is made in a food processor and is kind of fun to throw together, but I suppose if you don't have a food processor a regular mixer would work.
The sauce for this dish is absolutely brilliant. Just pick your favorite vanilla ice cream, refrigerate it for a few hours, then spoon some into a bowl and stir in bourbon.
I really like this recipe and will be using it again, especially since I've been experimenting with different croissant recipes. If you are interested in trying to make them yourself, I recommend Nick Malgieri's recipe for "Professor Calvel's Croissant Dough". It's from Nick Malgieri's Pastry (an excellent book!), but you can also Google it. Here's a photo of my first ever homemade croissant.
Another Good Croissant Recipe
Since posting this, we've also found a new and very good croissant recipe. The croissants from Claire Saffitz in The New York Times are excellent! Fuzz made them.
Recipe
Croissant Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into chunks (room temperature)
- ½ cup sugar
- ¾ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten
- 1 large egg yolk or 2 tablespoons of lightly beaten egg
- 1 ¼ cups heavy cream
- 6 croissants toasted and cut into 1 inch chunks (I used ½ pound)**
- ¼ cup raisins optional
- ⅓ to ½ cup bittersweet chocolate roughly chopped
Bourbon Ice Cream Sauce
- 1 ½ cups vanilla ice cream thawed in refrigerator
- 2 tablespoons bourbon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch square 2 quart glass dish.
- In a food processor, combine butter and sugar and process until well blended. Add cinnamon, and vanilla, and pulse to combine. While the processor is running add the eggs and yolk. Turn off the processor and scrape down the sides. Add the heavy cream and pulse to combine.
- Layer the croissants in the pan. Scatter the raisins (if using) and chocolate over the top, and gently mix to incorporate. Pour the egg mixture over the croissants; soak for 10 minutes. Push croissants pieces down during this time to ensure even coverage by egg mixture.
- Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake for additional 8-10 minutes or until it appears just set but still soft. Let cool.
- You can serve it at room temperature or cold. I recommend letting it cool, chilling it, then letting it come back to cool room temperature before serving.
- Serve with the Bourbon Ice Cream Sauce. To make the sauce, stir together the melted ice cream and however much bourbon you like and spoon over pieces.
Sue says
Your croissant is beautiful! It's hard to imagine making croissants that beautiful and putting them in bread pudding. I personally would rather eat croissants than bread pudding. I'm glad you and Todd liked it though!
Sonya says
This sounds AMAZING!!!
Anna says
Well, I've had some time on my hands! Heh. They are a project, but if you have the right setup they're pretty fun. Along with a stand mixer, it helps to have these things:
-- A big silicone mat such as a pie rolling mat
-- A bench scraper or pie lifter
-- Ruler
-- Pizza Cutter
Also, a lot of it depends on what dough recipe you use. For instance, I like King Arthur's Pain au Chocolat dough a lot but the dough gets springy and hard to work with. Nick Malgieri's (Professor Calvel's) is a bit easier to roll.
Also, check out the tutorial on Joe Pastry. I haven't tried his dough recipe, but he is really good at explaining things and takes nice pictures.
http://joepastry.com/2008/croissant-dough/
Cyndi B says
Wow! Your croissant looks absolutely perfect. I have always wanted to try my hand at them, but they seem so time consuming.
Anna says
Gloria, Todd is not a bread pudding fan, but he loved this one. It doesn't have too much of an egg texture and is more like a rich cake than French toast in a pan. Definitely read the reviews over on Food TV, then give it a try.
Gloria says
I was not a fan of bread pudding until I had the homemade chocolate chip bread pudding at Reuben's Smokehouse in Fort Myers, Florida. Now I am in love. Your recipe sounds like what I imagine theirs is like. YUM!!! I bet using croissants makes it even better.