Carbs are awesome. Don’t let anyone tell you differently, you do not need that kind of negativity in your life. Bread is definitely one my personal favourite carbs. My favourite dinner? Bread, cheese, and wine. That will woo me over any day.

Honestly though bread is SO versatile you can do basically anything you want with it. Even bad bread is good. Stale Panetonne? Toast that baby up and smother it with butter. Dried out french bread? Croutons. Few day old sandwich bread? French toast. Any bread? Bread pudding! Even better…croissant pudding!

My brother for some reason made a lot of bread pudding when we were younger, and I always hated it (sorry D’arcy!) but maybe because it was him making it and it was a sibling thing? Whatever, I think it’s delicious now, and you can flavour it any way you want, and use any leftover bread you might have sitting around. Cinnamon buns, donuts, Italian bread..heck you could probably even make a savoury bread pudding with leftover focaccia! But croissants are my personal favourite!

I’ve been crashing at my parents the last few days toughing out the snow “storm” (an excuse to see the dog more) and Tuesday was a snow day in. Extra sleep, lots of puppy snuggles, and some good ol’ comfort food. I didn’t actually have croissants just sitting around my parents house, but I did manage to get my hands on some and was able to whip up some croissant bread pudding. I cut them and let them dry out a bit before I put the custard on, though!

I think the croissants are perfect for bread pudding. They’re light, flaky and really soak up the custard and you get all those nice crunchy bits on top. I really love butterscotch and caramel, so the last few times I’ve made bread pudding I’ve used that and have never been disappointed, but definitely get creative with the add ins! Chocolate, dried fruit, berries, skor, citrus…it’s all delicious!

I served mine with some frozen berries that my mom had picked from our bushes over the summer and lightly warmed them up till they popped and got all juicy, and they were a nice topping. But when I have more time a caramel or whip cream is another go-to! My dad, who “wasn’t hungry“, ate two pretty decent sized bowls of this, so I know it was good. To quote “This is the best bread pudding I’ve had…what’s in it?” I used croissants, dad…the secret is out!

Flaky, buttery, creamy, butterscotchy-y, bread-y, warm and comforting…bread pudding just got upgraded!

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P.S. – Why can’t you trust croissants to get things done?
They’re too flaky!

Butterscotch Croissant Pudding

• 8 cups cubed croissants
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tbsp butterscotch pudding mix
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Sprinkle of cinnamon, to taste

Preheat oven to 375 fht. Butter a 1.5 quart baking dish, I used Corning Ware, but a Pyrex baking dish or another casserole dish will do just perfect as well!

Cube croissants and put in large mixing bowl. If your croissants are fresh, let the cubes sit out uncovered for a bit to slightly dry out.

In another bowl, combine butterscotch chips, milk, sugar, eggs, pudding mix, vanilla and cinnamon.

Pour milk mixture over croisssants and mix well. Be gentle so you don’t break all the croissants apart!

Put in prepared baking dish and bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes, until the top is brown (and a bit crispy) and the custard is set.

Serve warm with berries, whip cream or caramel!