Le Meridien Chocolate Croissant Pudding
with Jack Daniels Custard Sauce

Ingredients

Pudding

• 6 croissants
• 4 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 (4 ounce) bar bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups heavy cream, softly whipped and refrigerated

Jack Daniels Custard Sauce

• 2 cups milk
• 6 egg yolks
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons Jack Daniels
• Extra sugar (for sprinkling)
  

Instructions

1. For the pudding: Lightly butter a deep 9-inch baking dish. Set the oven at 375 degrees F.
2. Cut the croissants into coarse 1/2-inch pieces; set them aside.
3. With an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat together the eggs, yolks and sugar for 5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in a bowl set over a saucepan of hot (not boiling) water, melt the chocolate and remove it from the heat. Lift it off the water and wipe the moisture from the bottom of the bowl.
5. Stir the chocolate into the whipped cream.
6. Add the croissants, then stir in the egg-sugar mixture.
7. Pour into the baking dish. Set the dish in a roasting pan and pour enough boiling water around the dish to come halfway up its sides.
8. Transfer the dish to the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until the custard is set.
9. Leave the dish to cool in the water, then lift it out and wipe the water off the bottom.
10. For the sauce: Scald the milk in a heavy-base saucepan.
11. In a bowl beat together the egg yolks and sugar. Pour a ladle of milk into the eggs, stir thoroughly, then pour the egg mixture into the saucepan of milk.
12. With a wooden spoon, stir over gentle heat to thicken the sauce, but do not let it boil or it will curdle. The sauce is done when it coats the back of the spoon.
13. Immediately strain the sauce into a bowl, stir in the Jack Daniels, and sprinkle the top of the sauce with a very light coating of sugar.
14. Spoon the croissant pudding onto dessert plates and pour the sauce over each serving.
15. Serve at once.