This easy, delicious Blueberry Croissant Bread Pudding features buttery croissants, blueberries, and a sweet brown sugar and orange-infused custard. A delightful twist on a classic, this bread pudding can be served for breakfast or dessert!
To begin, cut up your croissants into approx. 1" pieces until you have between 4-5 cups of them. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, both sugars, salt, and vanilla extract.
Into the bowl, add the zest from 1 washed and dried orange, then whisk vigorously until combined.
Grease a pie dish with butter. Add in the croissant pieces and arrange into an even layer. Give the custard mixture one last mix to make sure that it's fully incorporated, then pour into the pie dish along with the croissant pieces. Be sure to leave some of croissant piece tops exposed so that they're not covered with the custard - you want these to crisp up in the oven later on.
Cover the pie dish with cling wrap, and let rest in the refrigerator for AT LEAST two hours, or up to overnight. Because croissants have a higher fat content than bread, they will need more time to infuse with the custard, so don't skip this step!!
When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375.
While the oven is preheating, scatter the blueberries over the top of the bread pudding.
Bake the pudding, uncovered, for 35-45, or until custard is set and the top is golden brown. You can tell that it's done if the edges of the bread pudding are starting to pull away from the pie dish. The custard should be a little jiggly but firmer on the edges, and not liquid or wobbly.
Let the bread pudding cool slightly before serving.
Enjoy!
Notes
For this recipe, you definitely want to use stale croissants so that they'll soak up the custard. If your croissants aren't stale, you can cut them up as instructed in the recipe, then bake them in the oven at 300 degrees F for about 10-15 minutes, or until dry (but not burnt or even browned). You want them to dehydrate, not overcook!