Nutella Bread Pudding

In my family we have a tradition to celebrate someone's birthday.  We have a birthday dinner and the birthday individual gets to pick the main meal and their dessert.  Now between you and me, nothing would make me happier than if every birthday dessert that gets chosen is one of mine!  Growing up I always selected a cheesecake for mine.  A couple of years ago I started making my own dessert and this last year was no exception, but this year I wanted something warm and gooey so this year I made this amazing dessert!

I have always been drawn to bread puddings, I haven't found one that I didn't like and this is is just about the best one I have ever made!

It is easy and you can't beat something that has Nutella and croissants in one dish!

Nothing too complicated here, start by slicing the croissants and making little Nutella sandwiches from them.  Here is the hard part though, try not to eat several as you will need all of them for the pudding!

So yummy looking right?!  Next get those little guys stuffed into your pan, it needs to be full with minimal gaps.

Next get the custard part whipped up.  Nothing too difficult here, just whisk up the eggs, cream, sugar, vanilla and salt.

If you will be baking it in the next 1-2 hours or so, go ahead and pour the custard over the little sandwiches.  I pour it slow and deliberate to make sure every piece gets it's fair share.

You will want to let it sit and soak up that custard, at least for 30 minutes.  If your bread was quite dry or it will need to sit for more than an hour, feel free to increase the custard mixture.  Or if you like your bread pudding really soft, increase it as well.  Play around with it and see what works best for you.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes or so.  Remove the foil for the last 10  minutes.  My family likes it extra crispy so I turned the broil on for a couple of minutes. 

Let it sit for a couple of minutes before sprinkling with powdered sugar and serving.  Everyone loved it, especially me and this pan was empty by the time I took it home!

Nutella Bread Pudding

Ingredients
7-8 large croissants or 18 small croissants (preferably 1-2 days old)
Approx. 1 c. Nutella
1/4 c. pecans (optional)
4 eggs
2 c. heavy cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. powdered sugar

Directions
1. Slice each croissant in half length wise and spread Nutella on one side.  Put the halves back together to make little sandwiches.  Cut those into smaller 1" size pieces.
2. Put those little pieces into a 9x9 baking dish.  You will want to arrange and stuff to make sure it is well packed and minimize the gaps.  If using pecans, sprinkle them on top.
3. Whisk together the eggs, cream, vanilla, salt and sugar.  Make sure there are no lumps.  Pour slowly over sandwich pieces.  I try to make sure that each open ends gets some so it can really soak it up.  Gently push down the bread so it will absorb.  Put this in the fridge for at least 30 minutes so everything is absorbed.  Get oven pre-heating to 350 at this time.
4. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for 10 minute more.  If the top didn't get brown or crusty, feel free to turn it to broil for a couple of minutes, but make sure to closely watch it!
5. After it has come out of the oven, let it cool for a couple of minutes before serving.  This tastes amazing as is, but you could serve with ice cream, cool whip or maybe even some of my buttercream syrup!
Tip: If you need to make part of this in advance, you can make it up to right before pouring on the custard.  Just make sure it is wrapped up tight in plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.  If you only need to make it and hour or two in advance, feel free to increase the custard just a bit and let it soak for until you are ready to bake it.