MIXED BERRY CROISSANT BREAD PUDDING

I have such a sweet affection for all things mixed berries. Today, I’m tossing my mixed berry affection in a rich and velvety bread pudding.

Beyond being easy to make, I love its versatility—it works for breakfast, brunch or dessert. To pull this dish together, I used my KitchenAid Stainless Steel Cookware set. It’s my latest wonder tool. 

I collect kitchen equipment tools like crazy shoe people: obsessively. Having the right tools for the right job makes everything easier and better KitchenAid® Stainless Steel 10-Piece Set in Polished excels at this. It’s sturdy triply construction means no warping and no hot spots. Yay to that because there’s nothing worse than burnt or unevenly cooked dishes, especially bread pudding.

A few more things that really make this cookware standout:

• The etched markings on the saucepans are especially useful, since I can easily be distracted while cooking and forget how much liquid I just poured in.
• The glass tops, keeps my urge to constantly lift a lid to monitor the progress of whatever I’m cooking.
• The stainless finish is easy to clean so no heavy scrubbing required.
• The cookware can easily go from stovetop to the oven up to 500 degrees F.

But enough geek’n out over kitchen wizardry. Let’s get back to this bread pudding and how to really punch it up. First, skip the standard bread for croissants for an instant buttery flavor boost. Reduce the berries with some balsamic vinegar and add a little marsala to the custard to give it some added dimension.

Then layer it up like you can’t wait to eat or make it beautiful for friends and family to ooh and ahh before consuming. I went for the latter, because I like a little showmanship and I wanted to show off my new cookware. Can you blame me??

**This is a sponsored post in collaboration with KitchenAid®. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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MIXED BERRY CROISSANT BREAD PUDDING

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoon water
• 1 cup orange juice
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
• 3 cups of mixed berries, fresh or frozen
• 1 cups milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup marsala
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 lb croissant, split horizontally
• 2 large eggs + 2 egg yolks

Directions:

In a small bowl, stir together cornstarch and water; set aside. In a medium saucepan, over medium high heat, combine orange juice, honey and balsamic vinegar. Stir and bring to a boil. Add fruit and cook until softened. Stir in vanilla paste. Stir in cornstarch slurry and continue to cook and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens. about 2 minutes. Set aside.

In a large skillet, over medium heat, bring the cream, milk, marsala, sugar and salt to a simmer. Remove from heat. Fold in 1/3 cup of berry mixture; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla. Slowly whisk egg mixture into the hot cream until blended. Strain the custard through a fine strainer into a large bowl.

Dip in croissant pieces into custard and line pan with dipped pieces. Cover with foil and bake for about 35-40minutes until center is just set. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoon of sugar and return bread pudding to oven uncovered to bake for 20 minutes longer or until top is golden brown. Serve with remaining berry mixture.

http://www.bakersroyale.com/mixed-berry-croissant-bread-pudding/