Croissant Bread Pudding

I originally shared this recipe for croissant bread pudding back in 2009 after a trip to San Francisco. The recipe was given to me by an innkeeper for a beautiful bed and breakfast that was run by a Chef/instructor at the local culinary school in St. Helena. The bed and breakfast has since become a private home, but the memories and this delicious recipe remain. I’ve been making this croissant bread pudding for over 10 years now and it gets better every time.

I kept the travel story below, just for memories sake. But you can skip down to the recipe by clicking the “jump to recipe button” if you’re ready to bake! 

What You’ll Need For Croissant Bread Pudding

This recipe is for 8 servings and is a wonderful dessert for dinner parties since you can prepare it ahead of time. However, feel free to cut the recipe in half if you’re making it for breakfast for your family.

• 8 store bought croissants, torn into medium-sized pieces
• 8 whole large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 Tbsp Grand Marnier liquor
• 1 Tbsp powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup of raspberries (or other berries) for garnish
• 8 ramekins or small baking cups
• non-stick oil spray (such as Pam Cooking Spray for baking)

Recipe From A Bed & Breakfast In St. Helena

We recently enjoyed a whirlwind weekend in San Francisco. It’s a lot to see in only four days, but I’m really happy that we squeezed in drive out to Napa Valley where we met with the innkeepers at the Glass Mountain Inn, a gorgeous inn located in St. Helena. My friend Vanessa and I were talking about what surprised us most about Napa Valley. And that was, well, it was so brown! We did visit during autumn. And I guess I had visions of vineyards like the movie A Walk In The Clouds with rolling green hills full of vines and picturesque as-far-as-the-eye-can-see panoramic mountain vistas. But rather than focusing on the quick feeling of disappointment from an unfulfilled expectation, I focused on the glass being half full … with wine!  And wine is something that California does really really well.

After driving through the valley, the town of St. Helena was a sweet surprise. It was green. The town was reminiscent of a movie set, only more real and organic.  And the road to Glass Mountain Inn was uphill, winding, and every turn had another view of a sparkly vineyard. Yay! And I do mean “sparkly” in the literal sense of the word. The vines have little metallic tags that I suppose are there to scare away birds. But I like to think of them as vine bling. 

The bed and breakfast got it’s name, Glass Mountain Inn, for the pieces of obsidian, a volcanic glass found throughout the property and surrounding vineyards.

Croissant Bread Pudding Step-By-Step Photos

Alrighty. On to the good stuff! How about a little Grand Marnier with your breakfast? It’s the “secret” ingredient to what makes this bread pudding taste great.

What I love about this recipe is how easy it is to make. But it tastes oh-so-good and is easy to fancy schmancy it up. I’ve already made it now half a dozen times this month when we had friends or guests over for breakfast. The ingredients are simple and easy to remember if you’re running quickly through the grocery store to pick up a handful of things. All you need is some croissants, sugar, milk, eggs, Grand Marnier, and berries and powdered sugar for garnish.

Spray your ramekins with some non-stick spray and tear your croissants into bite sized pieces, filling each ramekin as you go.  Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet or some other edged pan to catch anything that spills.

Next, mix your other ingredients in a large bowl (excluding berries and powdered sugar)

The Grand Marnier has an interesting effect to the milk. Start bubbling and making all sorts of fun swirls. This sparked my curiosity to find out what in the heck was the cause of this little chemistry experiment. I Googled it and found 3 possible answers.

1) “I’d say that when you add the milk-coffee mix to alcohol the concentrated alcohol must be able to denature the milk proteins initially (similar to acid in cheese making but a different mechanism – hydrophobicity), alcohol added to coffee/milk must not ever be concentrated enough to do this.” Uh-oh!

2) Then someone said it was “curdling” … but then wouldn’t we have a bunch of cheesey White Russians served in bars?  Baileys and milk don’t seem to have the same effect.

3) Then I found this random strange video “milk to alcohol” where someone turned milk into alcohol.  It’s really bizarre.  With a train going by several times in the background sound, someone adds sugar, yeast and milk together in a cup and pours it from one cup to another. After awhile it turns orange and then a cat comes up to drink the milk.  WEIRD!

I’m totally off subject now.  Damn internet and it’s endless supply of useless trivia.  Back to the recipe … whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar, and Grand Marnier. Then, pour the mixture on top of the torn croissants in each ramekin.  Soak em good.

Let them sit for 15 to 20 minutes so the bread can soak up all the milk and egg mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. 

 

You could serve them in the individual ramekins. But you could also take the extra steps below to flip them out on a plate. It’s totally up to you! If you want to remove them from the ramekin, let them cool first for about 5 minutes. Then take a knife around the edge to loosen them up and then turn over onto a plate.

 

Garnish with raspberries and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Take a bite. Pause. Make “Mmm Mmm” noises. Enjoy! The while recipe given to us from Julie at Glass Mountain Inn is listed as a printable below.

Originally Published Oct 26, 2009. Updated 2021.

More Bread Pudding Recipes You’ll Enjoy!

• Bitter + Blanc Bread Pudding
• Bourbon Peach Bread Pudding
• Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast
• Air Fryer French Toast