Croissant Bread Pudding

There’s something about croissant bread pudding that screams comfort. It’s luscious, delicious and so easy to make! Today we’ve added fresh pears for a sweet fruit touch, and we’re also making a Creme Anglaise to serve it with! Read more below!

Croissant Pudding is one of those easy desserts that feel fancy and high end, yet super simple. It’s not truthfully a French dessert, but an American upgrade to bread pudding. Often times we make our bread pudding with brioche bread as well, and oh HOW good that is too!

Our favorite puddings and cake blend together on this site are Chocolate Pudding Cake and Lemon Pudding Cake. If you’re looking for simpler puddings, try this Chocolate Pudding Recipe and Instant Chia Chocolate Pudding.

Today, we’re making a bread pudding which is easier than ever! So many things to love about this recipe and here are a few things!

Why You’ll Love Croissant Bread Pudding

• It’s the absolute definition of luscious! SO divine and creamy, and so tasty and buttery!
• We used store bought croissants so it’s a breeze to make. Super convenient and especially useful for leftover or stale croissants.
• It’s rich in omega 3, thanks to the eggs!
• You can make this in advance.
• Soaking makes it richer, but if you’re rushed, you can go ahead without.
• Leftovers keep so well and if anything, taste even better!
• Making the Creme anglaise is like the icing on the cake 🙂

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Croissants. Use fresh or stale buttery croissants, store bought of course.
• Eggs. We use large eggs for this recipe.
• Heavy Cream  and Milk. The combo makes the dessert extra luscious.
• Vanilla Extract. Quality vanilla is BEST, and we often add cinnamon for a flavor kick.
• Fruit. Today we used pears, you can however use berries (blueberries or raspberries).
• Nuts. Completely optional, but pecans pair so well with pears.
• Sugar. We used granulated sugar, and you can add brown sugar to the pudding for a caramel back taste.

How to Make Croissant Bread Pudding

1. Start by cutting the croissants into cubes, about 1 inch size.
2. Now in an often safe dish, add the cubed croissants.
3. Now add your fruits in between. We added the pear slices in between the croissants cubes.
4. At this point you can also sprinkle nuts if you’d like.
5. Now Make the custard.
6. In a large bowl mix egg, milk, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon custard before baking. The custard is all absorbed by the croissant and fruit infusing the pudding with a sweet creamy taste.

1.  There’s no soaking required! Because we used croissant in this bread pudding rather than the classic stale bread, soaking is not required. The croissant is tender, buttery, soft and bakes beautifully in the custard.
2. Now you’re going to bake the pudding and once out of the oven, you’ll pour over the creme anglaise.

How to Make Vanilla Sauce / Creme Anglaise

As fancy as it sounds, the creme Anglaise is simply a cooked egg custard. In the US we call is simply vanilla sauce. The trick to the best creme anglaise is to keep whisking it while cooking. So it’s probably not the best time to make it while you’re on the phone 🙂

1. Start by using a small sauce pan.
2. Add in the egg yolks.
3. Add the sugar and whisk the eggs and sugar really well.
4. At this moment, you’ll need to put the pot on the stove and start whisking.

1. Add the milk right away and start whisking continuously.
2. Now this is when you should sort of stick to your pot. You’ll need to whisk it for almost 10 minutes.
3. Basically you want the eggs to cook and the sauce to thicken beautifully, not curdle. So which and take a few seconds break then go back to whisking and so on.

1. When thickened and ready, add in a dab of butter and some vanilla extract.
2. And your sauce is ready to drench your pudding with!
3. This recipe is a seriously easy one, and the creme anglaise is absolutely worth every single bit of whisking you do!
4. Slice up that croissant pudding and look what you got! SO PERFECT!

Croissant Bread Pudding Recipe Tips

1. Make sure you don’t over fill your oven dish, because it may overflow in the oven and you don’t need that! Remember the croissant bread pudding will puff in the oven.
2. For your bread pudding to have the best contrast in texture, use a combo of croissants, fruit and nuts.
3. For the Creme Anglaise, remember to keep whisking until it starts to simmer on the edges and gradually thickens. Likewise, remember to not bring it to a boil.
4. If you feel your creme anglaise needs to be smoother, pass it through a sieve and add a tablespoon of butter at the end. Let the butter melt in the heat of the sauce for a velvety creamy texture.
5. You can prepare the bread pudding 3 days in advance and store it in the fridge. Likewise, you can freeze it for 3 months (without the creme anglaise).
6. While cinnamon was my top pick for spice today, I think chai spice would feel more like Fall! But you could play around with the spices, or skip them all together and make it a vanilla custard, and it was still taste delicious!
7. This croissant bread pushing recipe is absolutely not heavy on the sugar, and it leaves you room to adjust. So adding a few tablespoons more or less of sugar won’t affect the recipe at all. Therefore feel free to adjust it to your taste buds! 

How to Serve Croissant Bread Pudding?

We LOVE it either with the creme anglaise, or for a quicker option use vanilla ice cream! SO GOOD too!

Are Croissants good for bread pudding?

YES, yes and yes! They’re buttery, soft and tender! This eliminates the need to soak your bread for hours.

How to Store Leftovers?

Store leftovers in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to 5 days. Truthfully, they taste even better!

How to Make this bread pudding recipe in advance? How to Freeze?

Prepare your croissants, fruits and soak in the custard overnight. If you want to freeze it, you can do so well wrapped in foil and plastic wrap. Freeze the baking dish for up to 1 month and bake from frozen with extra 15-20 minutes.

You can thaw the pudding from the freezer before baking and bake as per the recipe.

More Bread Recipes:

• Whole Wheat Banana Bread
• Cream Cheese Banana Bread Muffins
• Double Chocolate Date Zucchini Bread
• Cheddar Zucchini Cornbread Recipe
• Chocolate Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

4.91 from 11 votes

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Pear Croissant Bread Pudding with Creme Anglaise

There’s something about bread pudding that screams comfort, and this Pear Croissant Bread Pudding with Creme Anglaise takes comfort to an even more luscious level!

Course baking

Cuisine American

Keyword bread pudding, bread pudding recipe, breakfast, croissant, croissant bread pudding, croissant pudding, Holiday dessert, pear dessert, pear pudding

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 8 servings

Calories 360 kcal

Author Mahy

Ingredients

• 6 croissants cut up into 1 inch cubes
• 2 pears cored and sliced thinly
• 1/4 cup pecans coarsely chopped
• 4 tablespoons sugar Use brown sugar for a caramel flavor
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups milk best ratio is 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Creme Anglaise:

• 3 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup hot milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Tablespoon butter

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. In an oven safe dish, put all the croissants cubes, make sure they fill only half the depth of the pan. Arrange the ear slices and pecans between the croissant pieces.
   
3. In a bowl, whisk the sugar and remaining ingredients to make the custard and pour that over the croissant and pear mixture evenly. Press down the croissants to make sure the custard is evenly distributed.
   
4. Bake the bread pudding for 30 mins until all the custard is absorbed and the pudding had puffed to the top of the dish.
   
5. In the meantime, make the creme anglaise.

6. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a small pot until it’s well blended and smooth.

   Then put the pot on the stove over medium heat and add in the heated milk gradually. Whisk gradually as you add the milk, and then keep whisking the creme anglaise until the eggs start to cook.

   
7. Whisk for about 10 minutes until the sauce thickens, then strain the sauce for a smoother texture.
   
8. Add the vanilla and butter to the sauce.
9. Drizzle the creme anglaise over the bread pudding, cut up and enjoy!
   

Recipe Notes

Croissant Bread Pudding Recipe Tips

1. Make sure you don’t over fill your oven dish, because it may overflow in the oven and you don’t need that! Remember the croissant bread pudding will puff in the oven.
2. For your bread pudding to have the best contrast in texture, use a combo of croissants, fruit and nuts.
3. For the Creme Anglaise, remember to keep whisking until it starts to simmer on the edges and gradually thickens. Likewise, remember to not bring it to a boil.
4. If you feel your creme anglaise needs to be smoother, pass it through a sieve and add a tablespoon of butter at the end. Let the butter melt in the heat of the sauce for a velvety creamy texture.
5. You can prepare the bread pudding 3 days in advance and store it in the fridge. Likewise, you can freeze it for 3 months (without the creme anglaise).
6. While cinnamon was my top pick for spice today, I think chai spice would feel more like Fall! But you could play around with the spices, or skip them all together and make it a vanilla custard, and it was still taste delicious!
7. This croissant bread pushing recipe is absolutely not heavy on the sugar, and it leaves you room to adjust. So adding a few tablespoons more or less of sugar won’t affect the recipe at all. Therefore feel free to adjust it to your taste buds! 

How to Serve Croissant Bread Pudding?

We LOVE it either with the creme anglaise, or for a quicker option use vanilla ice cream! SO GOOD too!

Are Croissants good for bread pudding?

YES, yes and yes! They're buttery, soft and tender! This eliminates the need to soak your bread for hours. 

How to Store Leftovers?

Store leftovers in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to 5 days. Truthfully, they taste even better!

How to Make this bread pudding recipe in advance? How to Freeze?

Prepare your croissants, fruits and soak in the custard overnight. If you want to freeze it, you can do so well wrapped in foil and plastic wrap. Freeze the baking dish for up to 1 month and bake from frozen with extra 15-20 minutes.

You can thaw the pudding from the freezer before baking and bake as per the recipe.

Nutrition Facts

Pear Croissant Bread Pudding with Creme Anglaise

Amount Per Serving

Calories 360 Calories from Fat 162

% Daily Value*

Fat 18g28%

Saturated Fat 8g50%

Cholesterol 176mg59%

Sodium 278mg12%

Potassium 214mg6%

Carbohydrates 37g12%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 22g24%

Protein 9g18%

Vitamin A 695IU14%

Calcium 142mg14%

Iron 1.4mg8%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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