With sho (my brothers friend from Japan) in the house nothing I make lasts long, so I have been cooking/baking like nonstop. But this is one recipe I had to post on here (I was trying to copy the bread pudding from Chaya Venice and not gonna lie. . . I think I succeeded).
I added banana slices on top of this one, and one mushed banana inside the custard part. |
Ingredients:
6 or 7 chocolate croissants (if you aren't into chocolate or just don't have chocolate croissants just use plain)
2 cups of whole milk
1 cup of cream (I put 1 cup half and half on the lighter side)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
6 egg yolks (yeah I know. . . what do you do with 6 egg whites? try this)
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz bittersweet chocolate chips (depending on how chocolately your croissants are)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F (up it to 375 and bake for about 40 min if you like it toastier and crispier) and lightly butter an 8 inch square baking dish or something similar (I actually skipped the butter all together this time, and it turned out fine!).
In a big bowl whisk together the milk, cream, egg yolks, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon and salt.
Next, cut the croissants (either homemade like mine or store bought) into little 1 inch pieces and try really hard not to eat them (I had to hide my pieces from my brother/friends/brother's friends).
Pour the milk mixture into the pan and then put the croissant pieces in the mixture. Make sure everything gets soaked in the custard, but you don't want every piece totally submerged, so the top of the bread pudding should be pieces of croissant sticking out of the liquid (so you get that nice buttery crunchy croissant layer). Finally press the chocolate pieces in between the croissant pieces and on top of the croissant pieces and stick the whole thing in the oven. Bake for about 45-50 minutes until the liquid is gone and the top is nice and toasty. (While it bakes make the caramel sauce.)
Let cool for about 10 minutes and serve hot with salted caramel sauce (just a little), vanilla ice cream, salted caramel ice cream (I recommend the one from Sweet Rose Creamery if you are in LA - SO DELICIOUS) or any combination of those three actually. I just wouldn't add any strongly flavored ice creams because the flavors of the pudding itself are awesome.
Salted Caramel Sauce from Zoe Nathan (Huckleberry owner/chef/master baker/awesome person)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tbs light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy cream
4 tbs unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp sea salt (crushed)
In a sauce pan, bring the sugar water and corn syrup to a boil. Boil over high heat until the mixture becomes a deep amber caramel (about 6 min - dont let it burn though so make sure you keep an eye on it). Remove from the heat and slowly and carefully whisk the butter and cream into the caramel (not the other way. . . trust me, its not pretty). Finally, whisk in the salt. Let the caramel sauce cool while the bread pudding is baking.
Enjoy!!
