Bread pudding is the ultimate dessert and it requires little to no effort. Its day old bread (which everyone has) soaked in a sweet or savory custard and baked till creamy and delicious. You can make this with ingredients you already have on hand in your house. Switch up the flavors to be savory by omitting the sugar and maple syrup and using cheese and ham instead. Add Nutella, chocolate chips, citrus zest, slivered almonds, etc! You can sub in day old French bread, white bread or challah. Just make sure it equates to roughly 8 cups of torn bread. This dessert really is a blank canvas for you to get creative with.
Ingredients:
Unsalted butter for greasing baking dish
8 day-old croissants, quartered or torn into 2 inch pieces
5 eggs, large
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
Maple syrup and confectioners sugar for finishing
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10x10x3 square baking dish, or similar size, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl add eggs, milk, cream, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Whisk together till combined.
2. Add cubed/torn croissants to baking dish. Pour custard mixture over top. Gently press tops of croissants to submerge in custard and ensure they soak up all the liquid. Let mixture sit for 5 to 10 minutes to allow custard to absorb into croissants.
3. Place a large roasting pan in the oven. Fill 1/2 way with water. Add bread pudding dish to water bath. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until bread pudding is cooked thru and custard is set.
4. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before drizzling with maple syrup and sprinkling with confectioners sugar.