Passionfruit, Blueberry and White Chocolate Croissant Pudding with Coconut Custard and Lemon Curd
This never tends to happen in our house, but, if you do find yourself with an excess of croissants or any type of pastries which are about to go off (or even better have gone slightly stale) then you need to make yourself this pudding. Think of it like a bread and butter pudding except instead of bread you’re using croissants which soak up all the delicious custard while staying gooey in the middle but crispy and golden on top. The flavours in this pudding are like a greatest hits of my favourite ingredients - coconut, passionfruit, lemon curd, pistachios, blueberry and vanilla. What’s not to love?
(Serve 6 - £1.97 per portion)
First make your coconut custard. Gently heat 400ml full fat coconut milk and 300ml double cream in a sauce pan with a scraped out vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract and the zest of a lemon.
Whisk 3 large eggs with 100g golden caster sugar until thick and creamy. Slowly add the warm milk mixture, whisking all the time. Put back in the saucepan and heat gently until slightly thickened for a few mins over a low heat (you aren’t looking for a thick custard consistency at this stage, more like single cream consistency). Once the desired consistency has been reached, set aside to infuse for 15 mins.
Half four croissants and spread each half with a good tablespoon of lemon curd. Layer the halves in a ceramic baking dish so they fit snugly.
Sprinkle over 300g blueberries (you can use fresh or frozen), 100g roughly chopped white chocolate and 100g chopped pistachios. Pour over the custard, allow the croissants to soak it up for 5 mins then top it up with more custard if necessary. Dot spoonfuls of more lemon curd over the top of the pudding and drizzle over the seeds and juices from 6 passionfruit. Sprinkle over a handful of desiccated coconut, demerara sugar and some more chopped pistachios if you fancy.
Bake at 160C fan/180C for 35-40 minutes until the custard is slightly set and the croissants are crispy on top.
While the pudding is baking, you can place the remainder of the custard on a low heat to thicken slightly and serve with the pudding.
Once baked, leave to sit for 5 minutes (if you can resist) before diving in.