Croissant Breakfast Bake

I recently spent the weekend in Asheville, North Carolina with nine ladies from the Alpha Omega Alumni Chapter. We had our first ever Alumni Retreat. It went so well and we had a fantastic time! We stayed in a cabin which allowed us to cook a few of our meals. 

For breakfast, I made a variety of muffins, but I also wanted something savory. I searched Pinterest and was originally going to make an egg casserole. Then I stumbled upon a recipe using croissants. Automatic winner! It was easy to make and everyone loved it! The original recipe is from Just a Pinch Recipes.

Croissant and Chocolate Bread Pudding

Today I am going to share a recipe for Croissant and Chocolate Bread Pudding. I have only made this once and it was actually about a year ago. It was so delicious and it was very rich (and coming from me that says a lot...I never describe a dessert as rich). This would make a great recipe to bring to a holiday potluck.

Ingredients
6 large egg yolks
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
6 croissants (about 1 pound), cut into 1 inch pieces
4oz bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8 inch square pan or other shallow 2 quart baking dish.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, salt and nutmeg. Add the croissants and chocolate. Mix to combine. (I think when I made it, I did not have any nutmeg, so I omitted that).

Transfer the mixture to the pan and bake until set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 to 40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.