I will be the first person to tell you that I was not ever going to sign up with twitter. I ended up caving out because of this article and the rest is history. I love how twitter has put me in touch with such great blogs and people. Through twitter connections I have gotten to know Pam, and last month when I was on her blog I saw this post I learned about the Improv Cooking Challenge Group.
I could not pass up a fun group that prompts you monthly with 2 ingredients to develop a recipe from. Starting with December the 2 special ingredients are: Eggnog and Cranberries. I toyed around with this combo for a bit…. an eggnog flavored bread with a cranberry glaze, an ice cream, or even a pasta dish. I decided to go with a bread pudding with an eggnog base and the cranberries would be mixed throughout the bread pudding.
This worked out perfectly. The day I planned on making this, I went to the bakery and they had day old croissants so I picked them up instead of getting a day old loaf of bread. The croissants being lighter and sweeter than a baguette, had me reduce the amount of liquid and sugar I had originally planned on using, based upon bread puddings I had made in the past. The texture was softer than a typical bread pudding and enjoyed the difference. I feel you can’t ever go wrong with eggnog, so this was really a no brainer. The cranberries added a nice bit of tartness every now and then which was nice to break up the rich eggnog,
Eggnog and Cranberry Croissant Bread Pudding
*serves 5-6*
Ingredients
- 5 day old croissants
- 1 cup light cream
- 1 cup eggnog
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar, plus more for top of bread pudding
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup cranberries, plus more for top of bread pudding
- garnish: whipped cream or ice cream (of both!)
Process
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease a baking dish, and set on a sheet pan. Set aside dish.
- Cut 1″ cubes out of the croissants. Set aside in a large bowl.
- Combine the light cream, eggnog, eggs, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Mix well to combine.
- Give the cranberries a rough chop. In a small skillet, heat the cranberries on low for 5 minutes, or until they start to get warm and softened.
- Add the cranberries to the liquid mixture.
- Pour the mixture over the pieces of croissant. Gently mix to combine. Let sit for 15 minutes.
- Pour the bread pudding mixture into the greased baking dish. Sprinkle the top with sugar and raw cranberries,
- Bake for 45 minutes, or until the bread pudding is golden brown and when you gently separate pieces in the center they are not excessively moist.
- Let sit for 15 minutes prior to serving, serve warm.
