This is as close as you can get to “comfort food” for dessert. It’s soothing and delicious and smells great coming out of the oven. I first tried it in Kuwait when we were there in January and I couldn’t get enough of it!
Ingredients:
- about 350g of plain croissants, ripped into 1″ pieces
- 3 tablespoons dried cranberries
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened, desiccated coconut
- 1 tin 300 ml sweetened condensed milk
- 1 vanilla bean, split down the middle
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
Directions:
- Combine croissant pieces, cranberries and coconut in an 8-inch souffle dish.
- Scrape vanilla from bean and place sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, vanilla bean and water in a large saucepan and bring to boil. Remove from heat, remove vanilla bean and pour milk over the croissant mixture in the baking dish. Set them aside for 5 minutes or until croissants absorb the maximum of the liquid.
- Spread whipped cream with an off-set spatula in a layer on top of milk and croissants.
- Place the baking dish under the broiler and broil for 5 minutes or until the cream topping is golden color. Serve immediately, topped with chopped almonds or pistachios.
These would make great individual desserts, divided and baked in six-ounce ramekins.
After-Thoughts:
The original recipes all call for raisins rather than dried cranberries, but I love the way the red berries studded the pudding and shone through the cream.
These would make great individual desserts, divided and baked in six-ounce ramekins.