This croissant bread pudding makes an amazing indulgent breakfast or dessert. Custardy soft center with chocolate and raisins and crispy top sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Served with vanilla sauce is absolutely delicious!
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make delicious croissant bread pudding:
- croissants – preferably day-old but if you have freshly baked croissants you can also use them in this recipe, you just have to bake them so they dry out a bit
- for the custard: eggs, milk, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt
- butter – for greasing the baking dish
- optional add-ins: raisins and bittersweet chocolate (highly recommended!)
- what you could also add: fresh berries such as blueberries or raspberries, orange zest, dried cranberries instead of raisins, chopped nuts
How to make croissant bread pudding step by step
STEP 1: Prepare the croissants: Cut your croissants (8 small or 6-7 large) into large chunks. If you have fresh croissants, cut them in half horizontally then bake them at 425°F (220°C) for a couple of minutes or until lightly browned and crispy (fresh croissants won’t absorb the custard as well as dried croissants).
STEP 2: Make cinnamon sugar: combine 2 tablespoons sugar (from the 3/4 cup) and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, set aside.
STEP 3: Make the custard: In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining sugar (1/2 cup+2Tbsp), cinnamon (1 ts), milk (2c), heavy cream (1/2c), vanilla (2ts), 4 eggs, and salt (1/4 ts).
STEP 4: Assemble: Grease an 8×12 inch (20x30cm) baking dish with butter (1 Tbsp). Add the croissants, chocolate (45g chunks or 1/4c chips), and raisins (1/2 c). Toss the croissants so that the raisins and chocolate are evenly distributed. Pour in the custard and press the croissants slightly into the custard. It should almost cover the croissants but not entirely – the top part of the croissant bake should be crispy.
STEP 5: Sprinkle the top of the casserole with cinnamon sugar. Let stand for 15 minutes while your oven is getting warm. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
STEP 6: Bake for pudding for about 45 minutes or until the pudding is golden and crispy on top and the custard is set and not jiggly (you can measure the temperature of the bake to make sure it’s baked through, it should be 160°F/71°C in the center of the pudding)
Enjoy!
What to serve it with:
- vanilla sauce – the best for this recipe! (shown on the photos)
- just a sprinkle of powdered sugar
- drizzle of maple syrup
- just on its own – it’s delicious!
- for a breakfast, I like to serve it with fresh berries and plain or vanilla yogurt or apple sauce / strawberry sauce
- as a dessert, you can also serve it with salted caramel sauce and whipped cream
Storage and reheating instructions
This dish reheats very well. You can reheat it in the oven or in a microwave. It makes a great make-ahead breakfast.
How to reheat it in the oven: put the baking dish in a cold oven and set it to 350°F/180°C, bake for about 10-15 minutes or until warm.
It also freezes very well. Place it in closed containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge and warm up in the oven. You can also bake it straight from the freezer.
Make ahead: This recipe is also perfect to make ahead! You can prepare it the night before, let it sit in the fridge overnight, and bake in the morning.
If you liked this recipe, you may also like this panettone bread pudding or brioche bread pudding.
Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!
Croissant Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 8 small or 6-7 large croissants preferably 1-day old
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups milk 480ml
- 1/2 cup heavy cream 120ml
- 3/4 cup sugar 150g
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon divided, 1+1/2 ts
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup raisins 75g
- 1 1/2 ounces (45g) bittersweet chocolate or 1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon soft butter for greasing the pan
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Instructions
- Prepare the croissants: Cut your croissants into large chunks. If you have fresh croissants, cut them in half horizontally then bake them at 425°F (220°C) for a couple of minutes or until lightly browned and crispy (fresh croissants won’t absorb the custard as well as dried croissants).
- Make cinnamon sugar: combine 2 tablespoons sugar (from the 3/4 cup) and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining sugar, cinnamon, milk, heavy cream, vanilla, eggs, and salt.
- Assemble: Grease an 8×12 inch (20x30cm) baking dish with butter. Add the croissants, chocolate, and raisins. Toss the croissants so that the raisins and chocolate are evenly distributed. Pour in the custard and press the croissants slightly into the custard. It should almost cover the croissants but not entirely – the top part of the croissant bake should be crispy.
- Sprinkle the top of the casserole with cinnamon sugar. Let stand for 15 minutes while your oven is getting warm. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Bake for pudding for about 45 minutes or until the pudding is golden and crispy on top and the custard is set and not jiggly (you can measure the temperature of the bake to make sure it's baked through, it should be 160°F/71°C in the center of the pudding).
- Enjoy!
Notes
Calories = 1 serving (1/6 of the recipe). This is only an estimate!
2 Comments
Cat
26 December 2023 at 19:49This is an amazing recipe! I only used 100g sugar as I was using a combo of chocolate croissants and almond filled so didn’t want it to be too sweet. I started cooking for 35 mins to not overbake but ended up continuing to bake for the full 45 mins so the centre was set but I did cover with foil around the 20 min mark. Highly recommended this recipe as it doesn’t use a ridiculous amount of eggs like others!
Aleksandra
26 December 2023 at 20:26I’m so glad the recipe worked for you, thank you for leaving the comment!