Caramel Croissant Bread Pudding

I feel like most of my posts this year are going to start with 'I haven't written in so long...' or some variation of that, so I'll skip it this time.

If you haven't been following me on Instragram, then boy, do I have updates for you.

Since my last post, Joe and I drove to Atlanta, where he had set up a romantic and unbelievably sweet proposal, and now we're engaged! Yes, that's right--Joe is about to become MR. THE SWEET ART, teehee.

The next day, we hopped on a plane to London for a day, and then on another plane to India to see my family. We had an unbelievably memorable trip, and a lot of credit for that has to go to my aunt who has her own travel company called India Adventure Curry--they arranged a wonderful itinerary for us. We went to the beaches of Goa, stayed on top of a mountain in Kashmir, walked through the Taj Mahal and ancient forts, visited the home of the Dalai Lama, slept among tea plantations, and traversed the streets of Cochin. We didn't get to go east, but we managed to do about ten cities in a month. Yup. TEN!

The best part is that we had a great mix of spending time with my family as well as getting time to ourselves. I loved waking up to Joe and my grandmother cooking breakfast together in the morning. Plus, it was so much fun to reunite with all my cousins again, and share my childhood memories with Joe. We ate some of the best foods and had so.much.tea.

Of course, I can't cover all of India in one post, or even just a handful of posts. But I do intend to create recipes that remind me of each city and share them here. I made sure to take notes of any inspiration throughout the trip, and of course, there was plenty.

We had originally intended to make this month a trip through Europe but I'm so glad we did India instead. It brought me much closer to my roots than ever before. I had never considered an Indian wedding but now ideas are swirling! 

On the way back from India, we spent another day in London and then went straight to Vegas for our friends' joint bachelor/bachelorette party. I was glad to be back in the USA but nothing made me happier than getting back to our St Louis apartment. 

We're finally home.  

I wanted to share this fabulous bread pudding with you before I leave again for a friend's wedding. I made this before we left and it was so delicious and easy that it's been on my mind ever since. I used lapsang souchong tea that I had lying around, just because it adds a flavor of smoky bacon while still keeping the whole thing vegetarian, but I'm not above eating this with bacon, or even candied bacon (!!).

You certainly don't need the tea to make this, or you can sub in a different tea if you like. 

This is one of those recipes that will make all your friends and family think you're an amazing chef because it seems fancy and complicated but it's actually simple and scrumptious with wonderfully complex flavors. Thanks to Nigella, you will definitely feel like a domestic god(dess).

Enjoy!

*Make sure to read through the entire recipe once before you start.

Caramel Croissant Bread Pudding

4 to 6 Servings
Adapted from a recipe by Nigella Lawson

3 large day-old croissants (TJ's sells them in 3s in the bakery aisle)
¾ cup milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
¼ cup lapsang souchong tea leaves
¾ cup sugar
Squeeze of lemon juice
3 large eggs
Handful milk chocolate chips, divided
Handful toasted pecans, chopped, divided

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Tear the croissants into large chunks and place in a 9-inch pie pan or 8-inch square pan. Set aside.
• Bring the milk and cream to a simmer in a saucepan over medium to medium-high heat until it almost reaches a boil. Stir in the tea, reduce heat to low and steep 5 minutes. Cover, remove from heat and steep another 10 minutes. Use a fine mesh sieve to strain the tea-infused milk into a bowl and set aside. Discard the tea leaves. Let cool completely.

• Swirl the sugar, lemon juice and 3 tablespoons water in a saucepan to help dissolve the sugar. Caramelize the mixture over medium to high heat until it turns a deep amber color, about 3 to 5 minutes.
• Remove the pan from the heat and add the tea-infused milk, whisking quickly to ensure the caramel doesn’t harden. (If it gets too thick, warm over low heat and stir until melted.) Set aside to cool slightly.

• In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and bourbon. Then whisk the eggs into the warm caramel (Be sure the caramel is warm, not hot, or the eggs will cook.). Immediately pour the mixture over the croissants and let soak 10 minutes.
*I like avoiding pouring all over the top because then there some gloriously untouched crispy pieces of croissant
• Sprinkle with chocolate chips and pecans. 
Bake 20 minutes until bread pudding is set. 
Serve warm or at room temperature with maple syrup or vanilla ice cream (none are really needed though, it's so good as is!)

In the words of Nigella, prepare to swoon.