Rich, buttery, and indulgent, this creamy lemon and raspberry croissant bread pudding recipe is almost unbelievably easy to make. It only takes a few minutes of hands-on time to create this treat that will make any breakfast, brunch, or dessert a memorable occasion.
The flaky, layered croissant top gives way to the silky, vanilla and lemon scented custard that is studded with fresh raspberries. Optional cream cheese dotted through the custard makes this extraordinary decadent bread pudding taste a little like a cheesecake.
And should you wish to really gild the lily and make the best bread pudding even more of a show stopper, you can drizzle a little lemon curd sauce and dollop whipped cream over the top. For a dish that originated as a way to use up old, stale bread, the humble beginnings have given way to a comforting but sensational dessert.
Something so very delicious doesn’t have a right to be this easy to make, friends, and yet here we are. Calling it impressive is a serious understatement, but words fail.
Just make the bread pudding. Make it for your mom for Mother’s Day or for your husband for date night, or for yourself because frankly, you deserve some serious love every day of the week, too.
All that is required of you is to slice some croissants, whisk together some liquids, scatter some stuff in a pan, soak it all together, then bake it. That’s truly it!
Bread Pudding with Croissants
Lovely, layered, buttery croissants are ideally suited to bread pudding but you do want to let them get a little stale before giving them the pudding treatment. If you’re in a hurry, you can encourage them to get stale more quickly by cutting them in half lengthwise and placing them in a warm oven (cut-side up) for an hour or two.
The reason you don’t want to use bakery-fresh croissants for bread pudding is that they don’t absorb enough custard to get properly pudding-y. Stale croissants are a little dry and much better at wicking up all that glorious custard you’re soaking them in.
Now let’s talk about options because we have some. My preference is simply to cut the croissants in half lengthwise.
I arrange the bottom halves over the bottom of my baking dish, add dollops of lemon curd, small pieces of cream cheese, and the fresh raspberries. I then arrange the tops of the croissants over their corresponding bottoms before pouring in the custard mixture.
This makes a visually beautiful final product and you can simply slice each croissant out to serve on a plate. This does mean some of the custard will not be absorbed and will be set around the croissants.
I rather like the effect, but if you’re looking for a traditional bread pudding base where the croissants have absorbed all the custard and expanded greatly, you can cut the bases into 1-inch croissant pieces and scatter them over the bottom of the pan.
Then you will scatter the other ingredients and top with the croissant tops as described above before baking. Either way is delicious!
Bread Pudding with Croissants Recipe
So I promised you this is easy and I meant it. Let’s gather our ingredients!
- Croissants
- Whole Eggs and Egg Yolks
- Half and Half
- Sugar
- Vanilla Extract
- Lemon Zest
- Fresh Raspberries or Other Fresh Berries
- Lemon Curd
- Heavy Cream
- Nonstick Cooking Spray or Butter
- Cream Cheese (optional but tasty)
If you can, plan ahead and grab the croissants about 3 days before you plan to make your easy croissant bread pudding. If you can’t, simply use the tip above to accelerate the process of drying them out a bit.
This recipe calls for half and half, but if you live in a region where this is not sold, simply combine equal parts whole milk and heavy cream. Or sub in all heavy-cream or whole milk, if you need to. It’ll be slightly different but no less delightful.
While raspberries ding my chimes in our croissant bread pudding, feel free to have a little fun with it. Blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries are all lovely in our pudding.
And if your tastes run more toward stone fruits, try out some pitted cherries or pitted and chopped peaches. You can even use dried berries or raisins if you love them- just keep them under the lid of the croissant tops to prevent them overcooking.
When it comes to lemon curd , I definitely recommend making your own. Commercial jarred lemon curd is quite good and pretty readily available if you’re short on time, though.
Croissant Bread Pudding Recipe
When it comes to equipment, today’s croissant bread pudding recipe is pretty low maintenance. It’s true that you need a baking dish and a roasting pan, but don’t let that scare you!
- 9×13-inch Casserole Dish
- Roasting Pan (or Aluminum Roasting Pan on a Sheet Pan )
- Cutting Board
- Bread Knife
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Mixing Bowl
- Whisk
- Aluminum Foil
The pudding itself will be built and baked in the 9-by-13 baking dish, but the baking dish needs to be deposited into a larger pan or baking dish before going into the oven. We’re going to create a water bath in the outer pan with about an inch of hot water.
The hot water keeps the custard from curdling by cooking it more gently than the direct heat of the oven. It yields a silky, velvety custard instead of a grainy one.
This is the same reason you’ll cover your pan with foil. While it may seem counterintuitive, you’ll also poke a few holes in the foil to allow some of the steam to escape.
Allowing the steam to escape in a controlled way keeps the croissant tops from getting over-soggy. The contrast between the flaky, crisp croissant tops and the custard rich bottoms is part of the abundant charm of this bread pudding.
Croissant Bread Pudding
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray or softened butter.
Slice 6 croissants in half lengthwise and arrange the bottoms of the sliced croissants in a single layer in the prepared pan. Break up any overlapping pieces and shove them into open spaces.
Scatter 2 cups of the raspberries over the croissant bottoms then dollop ½ cup of the lemon curd by spoonfuls over the croissants. If using the cream cheese, break it into knobs and scatter those around the raspberries and lemon curd.
Arrange the croissant tops (cut side down) over the contents of the pan. Place the 9”x13” pan inside the roasting pan. If you’re using an aluminum roasting pan, please put it on top of a half sheet pan for stability.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, half and half, sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon zest until even in colour and the sugar dissolves. Pour custard mixture into the pan with the croissants.
Leave it to soak for about 10 minutes, pressing the top croissants gently into the mixture from time to time. You can gently weigh the croissant tops down using a plate if you’d like, but it’s not strictly necessary.
Pour hot (but not boiling) water into the roasting pan, taking care not to let it splash into your bread pudding pan. Cover tightly with foil, then use a chopstick or butter knife to stab about 10 holes around the foil to allow steam to escape.
Carefully transfer the roasting pan to the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 40 to 45 minutes, or until the custard is set but still jiggly, golden brown, and puffed.
Allow the bread pudding to cool for 15 minutes before slicing or scooping and serving. Whisk together the remaining ¼ cup of lemon curd and the heavy cream until smooth.
This is best served warm or at room temperature with a drizzle of the lemon curd sauce. Garnish with the remaining raspberries and -if desired- whipped cream and more lemon zest.
Croissant Bread Pudding
Equipment
- 9×13-inch Baking Dish
- Roasting Pan (or Aluminum Roasting Pan on a Sheet Pan)
- cutting board
- bread knife
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- mixing bowl
- whisk
- Foil
Ingredients
- Nonstick Cooking Spray or Butter
- 6 Croissants preferably stale (see notes)
- 3 cups Fresh Raspberries divided
- 3/4 cup Lemon Curd divided
- 4 ounces cream cheese optional but tasty
- 3 jumbo eggs
- 8 jumbo egg yolks
- 5 cups Half and Half
- 1 ⅓ cups Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 1 Lemon zested
- 3 tablespoons Heavy Cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray or softened butter.
- Slice 6 croissants in half lengthwise and arrange the bottoms of the sliced croissants in a single layer in the prepared pan. Break up any overlapping pieces and shove them into open spaces.
- Scatter 2 cups of the raspberries over the croissant bottoms then dollop ½ cup of the lemon curd by spoonfuls over the croissants. If using the cream cheese, break it into knobs and scatter those around the raspberries and lemon curd.
- Arrange the croissant tops (cut side down) over the contents of the pan. Place the 9”x13” pan inside the roasting pan. If you’re using an aluminum roasting pan, please put it on top of a half sheet pan for stability.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, half and half, sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon zest until even in colour and the sugar dissolves. Pour this into the pan with the croissants.
- Leave it to soak for about 10 minutes, pressing the top croissants gently into the mixture from time to time. You can gently weigh the croissant tops down using a plate if you’d like, but it’s not strictly necessary.
- Pour hot (but not boiling) water into the roasting pan, taking care not to let it splash into your bread pudding pan. Cover tightly with foil, then use a chopstick or butter knife to stab about 10 holes around the foil to allow steam to escape.
- Carefully transfer the roasting pan to the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 40 to 45 minutes, or until the custard is set but still jiggly, golden brown, and puffed.
- Allow the bread pudding to cool for 15 minutes before slicing or scooping and serving. Whisk together the remaining ¼ cup of lemon curd and the heavy cream until smooth.
- This is best served warm or at room temperature with a drizzle of the lemon curd sauce. Garnish with the remaining raspberries and -if desired- whipped cream and more lemon zest.
Unless you read the entire article, you wont know to put 1″ of water into the larger pan. I used a funnel to prevent spillage and just filled it up halfway like a cheesecake. Also, no mention of chilling it then bringing it back to room temp for serving. For many of us, that’s just common sense. I did make this and its very good. Used the cream cheese also. Obviously it can be made with bread cubes, but the croissants are so much better.