The dish is already deadly, but adding the caramel sauce and serving a la mode will put you in an early grave. This is one of those recipes were quality ingredients make a huge impact. Get croissants from an authentic bakery, good vanilla from Madagascar or Mexico, and top-shelf bourbon that you’d sip on the rocks while wearing an ascot.
Ingredients
- 3 large whole eggs
- 8 large egg yolks
- 1½ cup sugar
- 5 cup half-and-half
- 2½ tsp vanilla extract
- 6 large croissants, stale (or left out overnight) and sliced lengthwise
- ¾ cup golden raisins (or regular raisins)
For the Vanilla Bourbon Salted Caramel Sauce
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1¼ TSP vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp bourbon
- 1 tsp sea salt
How to Make It
- Preheat oven to 350°. In a 10”x 15” (or similar size) deep-welled baking dish, add the bottoms of the croissants (it’s okay if they overlap a bit). Sprinkle raisins evenly across croissant bottoms, then place croissant tops (brown side up) over raisins ensuring the raisins stay between the croissant layers to prevent them from burning. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk whole eggs, egg yolks, sugar, half-and-half, and vanilla until very well blended. Pour mixture over the croissants and allow to soak for 10 to 12 minutes. Press gently on the croissants a couple of times during the soaking process to help them absorb the liquid.
- Place the baking dish in a bain-marie (a larger pan with 1” to 1½” of hot water to serve as a water bath). Tent the larger pan with aluminum foil do not tightly wrap and ensure foil does not touch the pudding. Cut a few steam holes in the foil and bake in oven for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 45 to 55 minutes or until the pudding puffs up and the custard sets.
- To make the caramel sauce, combine butter and brown sugar in a medium, non-stick pot over medium-low heat. Cook while whisking gently for about 7 minutes until mixture thickens. Slowly add heavy cream, vanilla, and bourbon while continuing to whisk. Raise the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil. Once caramel begins to boil and puff up, continue boiling for 60 seconds. Remove from the heat and stir in the salt. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
- Remove pudding from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. Serve warm with a healthy drizzle of caramel sauce. Serving a la mode is optional, but strongly encouraged.
