Warm and comforting, this Apple Pie Bread Pudding is made with soft and flaky croissants, cinnamon-spiced apples, and drizzled in the most delicious vanilla sauce!
Well, fall is definitely in full swing! The leaves are changing, the days are getting chillier, and social media platforms are littered with pumpkin patch outings. Is anyone else a little in shock that Halloween is THIS weekend?? Although I hate the fact that my favorite season is breezing by so quickly, I think most of us are looking forward to being done with 2020.
But before this magical season comes to a close, I just HAD to get a good apple recipe in…
This Apple Pie Bread Pudding is fall comfort at its finest! Soft, flaky croissants soaked in an apple cider-spiced custard, sweet and tender cinnamon-spiced apples, and a divine drizzle of vanilla sauce to finish it off. This is the kind of dessert that’s perfect to enjoy in front of the fireplace with a good book…or in my case, a melodramotic episode of The Bachelorette.
As someone who once thought of bread pudding as soggy bread, I can assure you that it’s NOT like that at all. You’re basically turning boring ol’ bread into a super soft and moist cake. It’s my idea of magic. One of the awesome things about bread pudding is that it makes use of old/stale bread since bread pudding DEPENDS on the bread being a little stale. In fact, if the bread isn’t dry enough, I place it in the oven at 350ºF for about 8-10 minutes to dry it out. And if it gets a little toasted, that’s even better!
For this bread pudding, I used croissants. Not only are they more buttery than your standard French bread loaf, but they have a way of really soaking up all that delicious custard, creating an almost melt-in-your-mouth texture once it’s been baked. A couple of years ago, I made a Salted Caramel Bread Pudding using croissants, and I was amazed by how soft and moist it turned out. Without a doubt, croissants are my favorite bread to make bread pudding with.
The custard, aka the sweet liquid the bread is soaked in, is JUST as crucial as the bread. It’s literally the magical potion that transforms bread into heavenly cake. The custard usually consists of milk, heavy cream, eggs, sugar, spices, and vanilla. Being that this is an APPLE pie bread pudding, I decided to double up on the apple sweetness by adding a little apple cider to the custard. I always go with the classic Alpine Spiced Apple Cider mix because it adds such robust flavor without having to add a lot of extra liquid. It’s also a lot more convenient to keep a box of this cider mix in the pantry as opposed to going out to the store to purchase a whole jug of apple cider. The powdered mix is BY FAR the best way to achieve such strong, pure apple flavor.
Speaking of apples…
I don’t know about you, but I’m rather finicky when it comes to the texture of apples when they’re baked into desserts. It’s always a disappointment when you bite into an apple fritter or a slice of apple pie and the apples are hard or under-cooked. So to prevent that unappealing texture in this bread pudding, I decided pre-cooking was my best bet. Cooking the apples prior to folding them into the bread pudding is absolutely KEY to achieving that perfect, almost melt-in-your-mouth texture. Seeing as the baking time for this bread pudding isn’t long enough to cook the apples all the way through, I pre-cooked them in some butter, brown sugar, water, and cinnamon until they just softened. Try not to overcook them, or else you’ll end up with applesauce! The apples should be firm, yet soft enough that there’s a little give when you press on them with a wooden spoon.
BEFORE it’s ready to go into the oven, you have to allow enough time for the bread to soak up that delicious custard. You want the bread to be absolutely saturated. I recommend AT LEAST an hour, but if you can wait overnight, you’ll be forever grateful. Similar to how chili or pasta sauce tastes better a day after it’s made and the ingredients have had enough time to “mingle”, same goes for bread pudding. For this bad boy, I made it up the night prior and then baked it the next day.
Because there’s no such thing as too much sugar in my world, just before baking the bread pudding, I sprinkled some cinnamon-sugar on top. Not only does it add extra sweetness, but it also forms a super thin, delicately crisp crust on top as the bread pudding bakes. It also just adds a little bit of shimmer to the whole thing. And for a little crunch, I also topped the bread pudding with some chopped walnuts, which get nice and perfectly toasty as the whole thing bakes in the oven.
Now, the thing that separates an ordinary bread pudding from an EXTRAordinary bread pudding is how it’s served. As far as I’m concerned, bread pudding is only worth eating if it’s GENEROUSLY drizzled in some kind of sweet sauce. So for this handsome fella, I made up a thick, creamy, and incredibly divine vanilla sauce to go on top.
This sauce is truly nothing short of heavenly. It tastes just like melted vanilla ice cream, but the consistency is thicker and CREAMIER. Thankfully this recipe makes a good amount, so feel free to cover every single nook and cranny…
Apple Pie Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 12 ounces croissants torn (about 5 croissants)
Spiced Apples:
- 8 ounces peeled and diced apples
- ¼ cup water
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
Custard:
- 1 (.74 oz) packet Alpine Spiced Apple Cider mix
- 1 Tablespoon hot water
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon allspice
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
For Topping:
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup chopped walnuts.
Vanilla Sauce:
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF degrees. Scatter the torn croissants evenly in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake until dry and toasted, about 8-10 minutes.* Allow croissants to cool while you prepare the apples and custard.
- Prepare the Spiced Apples: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, cook the apples, water, brown sugar, and butter together until apples have softened, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from stove and set aside to cool slightly.
Make the Custard:
- In a large bowl, dissolve the apple cider mix in the hot water. Whisk in both sugars, the egg yolks, egg, vanilla, salt, and spices until smooth. Stir in the heavy cream and milk until combined. Gently fold in the croissants, followed by the spiced apples.
- Pour mixture into a greased 8-inch square baking dish, gently pressing down on the bread to assure all the pieces are saturated in the custard. Allow to sit and soak for at least an hour**.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, then sprinkle evenly over the bread pudding. Sprinkle the nuts on top, and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until golden and toasty.
Make the Vanilla Sauce:
- Combine the sugar, flour, and salt in a small bowl. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Once melted, whisk in the sugar-flour mixture until combined. Gradually pour in the heavy cream, and continue whisking until sauce is thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Once thickened, remove saucepan from stove and stir in the vanilla.
To Serve:
- Slice/scoop bread pudding into bowls. Drizzle with vanilla sauce, and enjoy!