Chef notes

How do you make bread pudding even more rich and decadent? Replace the bread with croissants — store-bought croissants, to be exact. There’s no need to make bread pudding complicated. Adding bite-sized pieces of flaky, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth pastries to the mix makes this sweet and wholesome casserole even better. It’s perfect to serve for a crowd-pleasing brunch or as a satisfying after-dinner treat. This bread pudding can be made casserole-style in a big baking dish, but I love to use a standard muffin tin to make individual bread puddings to pass around.

The base of these mini bread puddings is a thick, creamy custard. Eggs are whisked together with a flavorful mixture of sugar, half-and-half, cinnamon and vanilla extract. Cut up your croissants, stir them into the egg mixture and watch as they start to soften and soak up the custard. This mixture is then spooned into greased muffin tins and topped with a generous sprinkle of cinnamon sugar before going into the oven to bake. The muffins will puff up in the oven, they will settle into a creamy custard and will develop a sweet, crackly sugar crust on top. Let them cool just a bit before popping a muffin out of the tin and taking a bite.

If you’d rather bake these cute little muffins in a bigger dish, pour the custard into an 8-inch square baking dish. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour, then uncover and finish cooking for 25 to 30 minutes more. And if you want to play with the recipe, stir a handful of chocolate chips or frozen berries into the custard before baking.

Technique Tip: The muffins puff up as they bake, so make sure to spray the surface of the muffin tin too, not just the cups.

Ingredients

nonstick cooking spray
2 large eggs
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups half-and-half
4 store-bought croissants, cut or torn into 1-inch pieces

Fulfilled by

Preparation

Spray a standard muffin tin with pan spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, salt and half-and-half. Stir in croissants until evenly coated in custard. Let stand for 10 minutes. Divide croissants and custard evenly among 9 muffin cups. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 325 F. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar evenly over the top of the muffins. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake until the custard is set and tops are golden brown, 15 to 25 minutes more. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.