Egg Nog Bread Pudding…WOW!

I will not profess my love for Bread Pudding.  What I will tell you is that it is the last, and I mean very last, dessert that I would even think of ordering at a restaurant.  Seriously, dead last…chocolate, apple crisp, lemon pie, anything else!  Ok, enough of that, I think you get my point.  With that being said, I loved this!!! 

I got the inspiration from a good friend of mine.  He mentioned the croissant and Egg Nog usage, and it immediately struck my interest.  Once again…my theory came into play here.  These two items were both great on their own, how could they not be good together???  He didn’t know the measurements.  The only thing he did know was the ingredients…well, most of them anyway.  So, I went to my trusty friend Google and found a recipe I thought would work.  It called for regular loaf bread and regular ol’ milk.  I subbed the loaf bread with the croissants and the regular ol’ milk with the Egg Nog.  Long story short, I carried a 9×13 casserole dish of this to work today, cut into approximately 20 pieces, and I only brought home one piece.  SCORE!  I converted non-believers of bread pudding into believers!  They were coming from near and far to taste the goodness I had created.  They were on their hands and knees begging for a piece of the pudding.  Ok, not quite that dramatic…but, it is fun to imagine someone being that excited about a dish I have created.  One day, one day…..

Here is the doctored recipe below.  One hint I received today from an avid Bread Pudding lover…..soak the golden raisins in Rum before mixing them in.  Duly noted, and I will be doing that the next time I make this.  I also used Southern Comfort Vanilla Spiced Egg Nog.  Choose your favorite, doesn’t matter.

Sidenote: I didn’t find any pre-made croissant rolls in the bakery at our local grocery store, so I baked 4 tubes of croissant rolls to replace the pre-made.  I let them all cool on a wire cooling rack before breaking into pieces for the recipe.  I also was quite concerned when everything started becoming one big bowl of pudding, literally.  The croissant rolls were breaking down quite a bit.  This ended up ending with a finished product that was dense.  If you want something less dense and more lumps of bread, then choose the loaf bread.

Ingredients

1 pound of croissants (or 4 tubes of croissant rolls, baked), torn into small pieces
1 quart hot Egg Nog (choose your favorite)
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups white sugar 
1 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 cup golden raisins (soaked in Rum if desired)
3 tablespoons margarine

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).   
In a large mixing bowl, pour hot Egg Nog over the broken down croissant rolls. Blend eggs, sugar, and vanilla together in a separate bowl. Stir egg mixture into the croissant mixture and blend well. Add raisins. Mix well.
Melt the margarine and pour into a 9×13-inch pan. Pour bread mixture over margarine. Bake for 40 minutes, or until firm and golden brown. Serve hot or cold.