Carmel pecan croissant bread pudding

By 1234

Ingredients

• 4 stale croissants
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup cream (heavy or coffee, whichever you have available)
• 1 cup milk (not low-fat or skim)
• 1/4 cup whisky or 1 tbsp vanilla
• 4 eggs, beaten

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 and butter a gratin dish which will hold a litre or so.

Rip croissants up and put into dish. Distribute pecans over top.

Put sugar and water into deep, heavy saucepan and swirl to dissolve sugar a bit. Heat over medium-high heat *without stirring*, but watching closely. Let it boil until it turns a deep amber colour. This process can take up to ten minutes. You need to watch the mixture closely, because once it starts to turn colour the change will happen quite quickly. If you burn the mixture you will have to discard it and start again…ain’t nobody got time for that!

Once the sugar has caramelized, remove from heat, and whisk in cream, then milk, then vanilla or whisky. When you add these the caramel will splutter and may bubble up. Just keep whisking! The sugar may “lump together” but return to *low* heat and keep whisking, and it will dissolve in the cream and milk. Once mixture has dissolved any lumpy caramel, temper the eggs with a bit of the hot liquid, then slowly whisk eggs into mixture in pot.

Pour custard mixture over croissants and stir to combine. If croissants are stale, let mixture sit for a few minutes.

Bake for 20 minutes