Croissant bread pudding is an ultra-rich version of the classic dessert! This one has a festive mix of diced apple and chopped pecans.

A square baking tin of croissant bread pudding with two square portions removed.

Photography by Kelly Neil

Bread pudding is an old-fashioned dessert usually made with stale leftover bread, eggs, and milk or cream. Sometimes called poor man’s pudding (which is what my Newfoundlander stepmom calls it) there’s nothing fancy about this dish. That being said, there’s something about bread pudding that always reminds me of the holidays. It could be because we serve it warm, with rich caramel sauce and whipped cream. It’s an ultimate in comfort food desserts!

This version is made with croissants for extra decadence. As a rule, croissants are rich, flaky, and loaded with butter. I recommend you do not use fresh croissants for this recipe as they won’t soak up the custard as well as stale croissants will. When in doubt, leave your croissants out on the counter overnight to dry out a bit.

I decided to stick with standard apple pie flavours for this recipe—apples, brown and white sugar, and a touch of cinnamon. I diced the apples fairly small to give them a similar-to-same cooking time as the bread pudding, while chopped pecans add texture and bite. I like to top mine with a drizzle of caramel sauce and a dollop of whipped cream. However you like it, it’s a simple dish that is especially good on cold winter nights!

Jump to:

Ingredients
Method
Tips & Notes
Substitutions
Recipe

A square serving of croissant bread pudding on a plate with caramel sauce and whipped cream.

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.

Ingredients

For The Croissant Bread Pudding

Croissants—Standard store-bought butter croissants, about 50-60 grams each.
Butter—I always use salted butter.
10% half and half cream—Also called Blend (maybe only in Canada?). A mix of milk and cream.
Eggs—For consistency, I write all of my recipes using large eggs which are approximately 50-60 grams each.
Sugar—Regular white granulated sugar.
Brown sugar—Also called old-fashioned or dark brown sugar.
Cinnamon—Basic ground cinnamon.
Vanilla Extract—Use any vanilla extract, paste, or powder you like or have on hand.

For The Apple & Pecans

Apples—Gala, Granny Smith, or SweeTango apples are good sturdy baking apples, however, use any apples you like.
Pecans—I had whole pecans on hand but feel free to buy pre-chopped.

Method

Hands tossing torn bread pieces with melted butter in a mixing bowl.

Tear the croissants into bite sized pieces and place them in a large bowl. Drizzle the pieces with the melted butter. Use your hands to toss everything together until the croissants are well mixed with the butter. Set aside.

Eggs, cinnamon, cream, and vanilla in a pink mixing bowl. — Combine the cream, eggs, sugars, cinnamon, and vanilla in a mixing bowl.

A bowl of whisked egg custard with a whisk in the bowl. — Combine the cream, eggs, sugars, cinnamon, and vanilla in a mixing bowl.

Egg custard being poured from a dusty pink Pyrex bowl into a bowl of torn bread pieces. — Pour the egg mixture over the croissant pieces.

A hand using a wooden spoon to stir pieces of bread with egg custard. — Pour the egg mixture over the croissant pieces.

Unmixed diced apples, pecans, cinnamon, and sugar about to be stirred. — Combine the apples, pecans, sugars, cinnamon, and salt in another smaller bowl.

A bowl of diced apples stirred with pecans, cinnamon, and sugar. — Combine the apples, pecans, sugars, cinnamon, and salt in another smaller bowl.

A hand using a wooden spoon to stir bread pieces soaked in custard.

Stir the apple pecan mixture into the bowl of croissants and custard then pour the bread pudding into a lightly buttered tin. Bake until the top is golden and the sides are pulling away slightly from the edges of the tin. Cool for 15 to 20 minutes before serving warm with caramel sauce and whipped cream

Overhead image of a square tin of baked croissant bread pudding.

Tips & Notes

Do not use super fresh croissants for this recipe. Bread for bread pudding should be stale and dry in order to better soak up the egg custard.

We use large eggs in our recipes.

10% half and half cream is sometimes called blend because it’s a blend of milk and cream.

How To Store Croissant Bread Pudding

Once the bread pudding has cooled completely there are a few ways to store it.

Refrigerator

Croissant bread pudding will keep in the fridge, covered tightly, for up to three days. To store in the refrigerator:

Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap and store the dish in the fridge.
Scoop all of the bread pudding into a large plastic container with a tight fitting lid and store it in the refrigerator.
Portion out individual servings into airtight containers with lids, or bowls covered tightly with plastic wrap. Store in the fridge.

Freezer

Follow the same instructions as for the refrigerator. Croissant bread pudding will keep in the freezer for up to two months. To serve simply thaw the bread pudding in the refrigerator the day before you want to eat it, then gently warm in the microwave or oven until heated through.

Substitutions

You can use any bread for bread pudding including homemade sourdough bread.

10% half and half cream can be substituted for regular milk or even some 35% whipping cream. I don’t advise using only whipping cream as the pudding is already quite rich with the 10%.

Apple pie spice mix would be a nice substitute for plain cinnamon.

Diced pears would also be great in place of apples.

Two small plates of croissant bread pudding with whipped cream and caramel sauce.

More Great Apple Recipes

Cinnamon Apple Galette
German Apple Sheet Cake
Granny Smith Apple Pie
Apple Cinnamon Rolls With Cream Cheese Frosting
Hawaij Apple Streusel Cake
Apple Crumble Cake
Dutch Oven Apple Crisp

Croissant Bread Pudding With Apples & Pecans