What to do with stale croissants can be a problem, but this is what we do with ours at Chriskitch. It is nothing more than a version of bread- and-butter pudding, so you could easily replace the croissants with something else – whatever you have to hand that is slightly stale will probably be fine. However, adding fresh and dried fruit turns it into something more substantial, and I am particularly fond of combining pears, prunes and chocolate. Make this and you will see why.

Serves: 4–6

Ingredients

● 8 baby pears
● 250ml milk
● 250ml double cream
● 4 eggs
● 75g caster sugar
● 1 tsp vanilla extract
● 6 mini croissants, thickly sliced
● 100g dark chocolate, chopped bar or chips
● 100g pitted prunes (about 4 or 5)
● Icing sugar, for dusting

Method

● Preheat the oven to 160°C and line a 30cm x 18cm (brownie) tray with baking parchment.

● Cut each pear in half lengthways and set aside.

● In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, cream, eggs, sugar and vanilla until just blended. Arrange the croissant slices in the pan and put the pear halves in between. Pour over the cream mixture. Scatter the chocolate and prunes all around.

● Bake until puffed and golden, 25–30 minutes. Leave to cool, then dust with icing sugar and cut into portions to serve.