Joy of Baking Croissant Bread Pudding

Recipe adapted from Joy of baking 

Recipe

7 to 8 Big Croissants  

Custard:

4 large eggs

1 cup  granulated white  sugar

1 1 /2 teaspoons pure vanilla  extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled before you start the custard~ so it has time to cool off

2 cups milk and 2 cup half & half

Bread Pudding: Preheat oven to 300 degrees F  and place rack in center of oven. Lightly spray with a non stick vegetable spray, a 9 x 13 inch   baking dish. Place the baking dish into a larger roasting pan that has enough room around its sides to fill with water. Place the bread cubes in the baking dish. Custard: Use an electic beater to beat the eggs and sugar on high speed until thick and lemon colored (about 4-5 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract and cinnamon. Then beat in the melted and cooled butter and half and half (light cream). Assemble: Carefully pour  the prepared custard over the bread cubes until completely covered. Press down the bread cubes so they are covered with the custard. Water Bath- (A water bath is used to provide temperature protection for the egg custard.) Carefully pour in enough hot water so that the water is halfway up sides of the 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Bake about 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Another way to judge whether the pudding is fully baked, is to gently press down on the center of the pudding. If any custard comes up to the top, the pudding needs to be baked a little longer. Remove the bread pudding from the water bath and cool slightly before serving. ***After baking it a hour it was still runny, so I put back in the oven for 10 minutes.

I have made Paula Deen's (sweet), Contessa's (have to separate some eggs), Myrecipe (easy)and now J. O. B. (custard takes a little work)  They are all delicious and I would recommend all of them.