Last minute Christmas recipe
by digby
No, it's not too late to make something wonderful for Christmas day. This chocolate croissant bread pudding is super simple and incredibly delicious. And you still have time to run out to the store and get what you need for tomorrow morning:
Ingredients
Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding:
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
12 croissants
3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped small (You can also just get chocolate croissants and for get about adding the chocolate.)
Directions:
For the chocolate croissant bread pudding: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a food processor, combine butter and sugar process until well blended. Add cinnamon, and vanilla, and pulse to combine.
While the processor is running crack 5 eggs into the mixture. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides. Add the heavy cream and pulse to combine.
Lightly butter a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. Break up the croissants into 1-inch pieces and layer in the pan. Scatter the bittersweet chocolate over the top, and gently mix to incorporate. Pour the egg mixture over the croissants; soak for 8 to 10 minutes. You will need to push croissants pieces down during this time to ensure even coverage by egg mixture.
Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake for additional 10 minutes to brown the top. The croissant bread pudding is done when the custard is set, but still soft. Allow to cool.
If you're making this for dessert instead of breakfast you can make an easy sauce by allowing some kind of premium vanilla ice cream to melt and adding a little bourbon or rum. It's delicious.
This really couldn't be easier.
I hope you'll consider dropping a little something into the kitty to help keep this blog going for another year.
Happy Hollandaise everyone.
