Crème brûlée croissant bread pudding
Bring stale croissants back to life with this rich and luxurious crème brûlée croissant bread pudding. It's the easiest dessert that's sure to impress.
Equipment
- 9 inch round baking tin
- Whisk
- Blow torch or skillet
Ingredients
For bread pudding
- 250g stale croissants (about 3 small croissants or 2 - 3 larger croissants)
- 480g (2 cups) half and half (can sub with 1 cup whole milk + 1 cup heavy cream)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 5 egg yolks
- 100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
For caramelized topping
- 50g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F
- Cut the stale croissants into 1 inch cubes and place in a 9 inch round baking tin
- In a large bowl, whisk together the half and half, vanilla extract, salt, egg yolks, and granulated sugar until well combined
- Pour the mixture over the croissants, making sure the croissants are evenly distributed throughout. Let sit for 5 minutes so that the croissants absorb some of the mixture
- Place in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 20 - 25 minutes until the edges are set but the liquid in the center jiggles slightly when you shake the pan
- Serve warm. Right before serving, sprinkle a thin layer of sugar on top and caramelize with a blow torch
Caramel drizzle if you don't have a blow torch
- Place 50g of sugar in a pan, making sure it's spread thinly over the bottom of the pan
- Cook on medium-high heat until it's a deep amber brown in color. You can lightly move the sugar around and swirl the pan, but do not stir, as it could cause the sugar to crystallize
- Drizzle the caramel over the baked bread pudding
Notes
- If using fresh croissants, cut into cubes and then place in the oven for ~5 minutes to dry them out so they can better absorb the cream
- Instead of 5 egg yolks, you can use 3 whole eggs. This will lead to a slightly less creamy result
- Tips for making caramel - first, you'll notice the sugar melt into a clear liquid, then gradually darken in color. It's helpful to use a light color pan so you can track how the color changes. It may darken unevenly, and you can swirl the pan to help distribute the sugar. However, do not vigorously stir as this can cause the sugar to crystallize.
- If you like more pudding than bread, you can make more of the cream mixture, or use less croissants. This will lead to more custard bits in the final result.