Croissant Bread Pudding for Two
Croissant Bread Pudding for Two is a small-batch bread pudding made with buttery croissants, milk, cream, eggs, and vanilla. Loosely inspired by Ina Garten's croissant bread pudding, this scaled-down version is just right for a household of two and can be baked until creamy and custardy or firm and cake-like.
Servings 4 people
Cost 5
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk (270 grams)
- ½ cup heavy cream (120 grams)
- ½ cup sugar (100 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 2 large or 4 smaller croissants (4-5 oz total) (120-140 grams)
Instructions
- Grease a small baking dish, something around 6x8 or 7x7 with butter.
- Slice the croissants in half and lay across the bottom of the pan, mostly cut-side-up but with a few cut-side-down for aesthetics and just to be rebellious.
- Whisk together the egg, egg yolks, milk, cream, sugar and vanilla and pour across the croissants. Let stand for about 30 minutes so that the croissants can soak up some of the milk mixture. You can also refrigerate it and let it stand for a few hours if needed.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Heat up some water on the stove.
- Set the small dish in a larger dish (such as a 13x9 inch baking pan).
- Fill the larger pan with an inch of hot water or enough to come up about half way up the smaller dish. Cover the large pan with foil.
- Bake at 350 for 35 minutes with the foil, then remove foil and bake uncovered for another 30 minutes. It might look slightly wet at this point, but should not be oozy and runny.
- Let cool at room temperature. As it cools, it should set up. Once cool (or just slightly warm) transfer it to the refrigerator and chill until cold.
Notes
The texture may vary depending on your oven, the amount of butter in your croissants (really!) and the overall bake time. You can't really mess this up, though. It's good underbaked and overbaked. Baking at 350F covered for 35 minutes and uncovered for another 30 should give you a slightly stiff, cake-like bread pudding. For a creamy and actual pudding like texture, bake for 35 minutes covered and only 20 minutes uncovered. Internal temperature should be at least 170 for food safety.