This is something I basically made up last night, having foolishly let some croissants go stale, and being in need of things to make with that raspberry and lavender butter. It’s related to bread and butter pudding, and I actually used raspberry and lavender butter in the custard and a very small amount of it shaved over the bottom layer of croissants, so by all means do this if you have raspberry and lavender butter on hand. If not, though, the following recipe should work as well, if not better – it’s squishy and hot and comforting, with crusty bits, a good amount of sharp, sweet raspberry to cut the richness of the custard, and a hint of lavender throughout. A nice way to bring summer back into your kitchen as the winter Solstice approaches.
Your Shopping List
4 large or 6 small croissants, stale3 tbsp sugar + 1 tbsp for the custard
150g frozen raspberries (approx) 2 eggs + 1 yolk
1 1/2 cups milk
20g butter 1/2 tsp dried lavender buds
Now what will you do with it?
Tear up the croissants, and put half of them in a baking dish which fits them snugly in a single layer. Sprinkle with half the raspberries and the sugar. Cover with the rest of the croissants, then the rest of the raspberries and sugar. You could use fresh berries here, of course, and blackberries would go very nicely with lavender. Diced strawberries would also be lovely, but I’d make the custard with lemon in that case.
Beat the eggs and yolk together in a medium sized bowl. Heat the milk, butter, sugar and lavender buds until the butter is melted, and the milk is not quite boiling (if you can’t get lavender, try the finely grated zest of a lemon). Pour the hot milk mixture slowly into the eggs through a sieve, beating like mad as you go so that you don’t get scrambled eggs. Pour the custard over your croissants and berries, and sit for about half an hour (if your croissants are quite fresh, ten minutes will be plenty).
Bake the whole lot at 180°C for about 45 minutes – the custard should be puffed up and just set and it should all look golden and smell wonderful.
Serves four, and only a truly decadent person would eat the leftovers for breakfast…
2 comments for “Recipe: Croissant and raspberry pudding with lavender”
Johanna GGG | June 7, 2011 at 9:29 pm
one for my bookmarks – I have dried lavender that I haven’t cooked with because never sure about it but I love the sound of this dish – though croissants don’t go stale in our household as they are v popular – just as well seeing that E buys supermarket ones which aren’t within cooee of the real mccoy. Nice idea for your sweet butter too
Catherine | June 8, 2011 at 9:14 am
Clearly I need to do a feature on cooking with lavender – I use it a lot! It’s lovely in scones, I find.