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Nordic and hygge recipes, foraging and wild food

Upcycled cinnamon bread and butter pudding recipe

By September 11, 2025No Comments

Have you ever wondered what to do with stale croissants or pain au chocolat? Autumn calls for comfort food, and this warming pudding ticks all the boxes for one of those desserts where you just want to curl up on the sofa with a spoon and something sticky, preferably with all the deep fragrant flavours of a cinnamon roll. Leftover croissants add a welcome change to standard bread; every time you have a pastry, croissant or pain au chocolate drying up in the bread bin, pop it in the freezer until you have enough to make this lovely dish; the pudding can also be assembled the day before you need it, if you are planning a long leisurely Sunday lunch!

IMG20250524171509-1 Upcycled cinnamon bread and butter pudding recipe

Ingredients

For the pudding

6 stale croissants or pastries

500ml milk

3 eggs

50g sugar

5 cardamom pods

½ tsp of vanilla sugar (available from Scandinavian cookshops) or 1tsp vanilla extract

A little extra butter, for greasing the dish

For the filling (good quality chocolate spread makes a great alternative if you are not a fan of cinnamon)

150g dark brown sugar

75g butter, softened (I like to use salted)

1tbsp cinnamon 

IMG20250524173012 Upcycled cinnamon bread and butter pudding recipe

Method

  1. Grease a large ceramic baking dish.
  2. Bash the cardamom pods in a mortar and pestle. Remove the papery green husks and then grind the seeds to a powder, giving about a quarter of a teaspoon of spice.
  3. Split the croissants in half.
  4. Beat the brown sugar, cinnamon and butter and spread generously over the croissant halves, before sandwiching them back together and slicing them into 2cm sections.
  5. Lay the slices in the dish with the cinnamon butter facing up, tucking all the little odds and ends underneath.
  6. Whisk together the milk, eggs, 50g sugar, ground cardamom and vanilla extract and pour ¾ of the mixture over the croissant, pushing them gently down so they absorb the liquid.
  7. Set aside for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
  8. Check the croissants to see if they are nice and squishy. If there are any dry patches, top up with more of the milk and egg mixture; now would be a good time to sprinkle over a few flaked almonds if you have any lying around!
  9. Bake for 20-25 minutes in the centre of the oven until golden brown and bubbling (cover the top with a little tin foil if you think it is browning too quickly).
  10. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving; delicious when cold.