Bourbon Croissant Bread Pudding

 

I had a few old croissants lying around and have been watching a lot of Food Network lately, so I was inspired to find something creative to do with them.  I found this recipe for bread pudding that sounded yummy, so I gave it a try.

Emily sat on the couch and watched some more Food Network while I baked.

Bourbon Croissant Bread Pudding (from Savory Sweet Life)

INGREDIENTS:

4-5 large croissants, day old preferably
1 1/2 cups  sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3-4 tablespoons bourbon or rum OR 2 tablespoons vanilla
5 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon table salt

DIRECTIONS:

Tear croissants in half and place in a 9×13 casserole/baking dish.  In a large sauce pan, cook sugar and water on medium high heat stirring occasionally.  While sugar syrup is cooking, combine cream, milk, bourbon and salt in a microwavable container and microwave for 2 minutes (remembering to keep an eye on the sugar syrup).  In another bowl beat 5 eggs, set aside.  Sugar syrup should begin to change colors to a deep amber.  When you see the sides turning amber brown, start stirring.  When the entire syrup turns amber, turn off heat.  Grab a whisk and slowly add heated cream mixture and stir like crazy.  When the cream hits the sugar syrup it will bubble somewhat violently and will try to crystallize.  DO NOT PANIC.. just continue to stir like crazy until your caramel sauce is smooth.  Once sauce is smooth, slowly add egg mixture while stirring everything.  Pour everything over croissants.  Croissants may start to float.  Just press them down making sure every piece gets completely coated with caramel mixture.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Allow the bread pudding to rest while preheating and when your oven is ready bake for 30 minutes.

 

Notes:
- As you can see, it got a little crispy in the oven.  Everything takes a little longer when you’re working with an infant as an assistant and reading a great birth story like Lucy’s.  You can check out Emily’s birth story here.
- I also didn’t read the directions properly and added the eggs into the cream mixture before microwaving it.  Also Lucy’s fault!
- I didn’t have any bourbon so it just has vanilla.
- For some reason I could not get the sugar syrup to turn amber and it was bubbling like crazy and crystallizing right from the start.  Maybe I should have measured out the water even more carefully?
- I also only had 3 croissants and I tore them up into pieces.  Seriously a bad day for me reading recipes.
- So the recipe was a borderline fail for me.  But it still tasted delicious!

 

Oh, and what I said about Emily watching the Food Network?  Not true.  Not only are we not ok with planting her in front of the TV as a babysitter, she’s just not interested.

Starting to get a little mad…

 

…and completely disinterested.

Look at those mad little fists!  And crying without tears – she already knows how to get her mama’s attention when she wants some cuddles and to participate in the action!

Muffin Mix

Ingredients

• 12 cups all purpose flour
• 4.5 cups sugar
• 4.5 Tbsp baking powder
• 3 tsp salt
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tsp nutmeg

Directions

• Combine & store in airtight container.
• Use within 6-8 months.

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Granola

Source: joyinmykitchen.blogspot.com

Ingredients

• 1-3 Tablespoons butter
• 1 Cup brown sugar , packed
• 1/4 Cup water
• 7-8 Cups quick oats
• 1/3 tsp cinnamon
• Dried fruit , etc.

Directions

• Melt butter, brown sugar and water together in a pan over medium heat. Stir well, and allow mixture to simmer for 2-3 minutes.
• In a bowl, mix together cinnamon and oats and add to the brown sugar mix.
• Remove from the heat and stir until all oats are well coated. Place granola on a cookie sheet (with edges), and bake for 5 minutes at 375. Remove from the oven, and stir/flip granola and bake for another 5 minutes until granola is lightly browned. Allow granola to cool on the cookie sheet. Transfer to an airtight container when cool.

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Buttermilk Pancakes

Source: Our Best Bites

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 3 eggs , separated
• 1/3 cup butter , melted

In a large pitcher, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another container, whisk together buttermilk, milk, and the egg yolks. With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Whisking constantly, add melted butter to the milk mixture. Pour this mixture into the pitcher and stir until just combined.

When the flour has been combined but the batter is still a little lumpy, heat a non-stick skillet or griddle to medium-low heat. While the skillet is heating, gently (but completely) fold beaten egg whites into the batter. When the skillet is hot, spray it with a little non-stick cooking spray and then just pour the batter from the pitcher straight onto the hot skillet.

It takes a little adjusting to figure out where the temperature setting should be. If it's too hot, the bottoms will cook too fast and the insides will be raw, but if it's not hot enough, the outsides will get hard and dry and you'll be spending all Saturday morning in front of your stove instead of buying bras in bulk at Costco. So the first round or two of pancakes might not be perfect, but just keep adjusting the temperature until you find the setting on your stove that works best for you.

Now...after you've poured the batter onto the skillet, keep an eye on the pancakes. When you start seeing bubbles, you're almost there. When the bubbles pop and leave a hole, it's time to flip. Gently slide a spatula/pancake turner/flipper (whatever you call it) under the pancake and quickly flip it to the other side. The other side won't take quite as long as the first side--just check here and there and when the pancakes are golden brown on both sides, you're good to go.

Add fruits or chocolate chips before egg whites.