Hundred Mile Bread Pudding

This entry comes from one of our main East Coast correspondents (and occasional Daily News editor) @readeatwriterun.  Now that she’s gluten and dairy free, she can’t eat this anymore, but gladly passes the recipe on to us!

From her:  “It never had a name, so I’m christening it Hundred Miler Bread Pudding – because you probably need to run a hundo to burn off the calories.  Note – you assemble the dish and refrigerate at least 3 hours, preferably overnight, so this is a two-day recipe.

Custard

2 cups plus 4 tablespoons heavy cream
2 cups plus 4 tablespoons whole milk
15 eggs
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons vanilla extract

Place ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Cinnamon Sugar

2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Vietnamese cinnamon (preferred, intense flavor – but you can use another type of high quality cinnamon if you’d rather)

Combine ingredients in a small bowl.

Croissants

10 large ready-made croissants (you can get them at Sam’s, Costco, grocery stores)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Assembly

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Using some of the melted butter, brush sides and bottom of a 12- by 8- by 2-inch nonreactive baking pan. Set aside.

Split croissants open and generously brush cut sides with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (recipe above). Then place on a cookie sheet, cut sides up, and bake 5 to 7 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for at least 5 minutes.

Place croissants in buttered baking pan, cut sides up, in 3 layers. Pour custard over them.

Cover pan with foil and refrigerate to allow custard to soak in, overnight (or at least 3 hours).

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place pan in a water bath and bake for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until custard is firm.