Upside Down Bread Pudding with Caramelized Pears and Brandied Custard Sauce Recipe on Food52 (2024)

Author Notes

Earlier this week, my friend showed up at my door with a loaf of sweet french bread to distract me from an overwhelming work project I've been consumed with. She enticed me to have some fun exploring bread puddings for this week's contest. After discussing some ideas, we each embarked on a recipe (hers is the creative chai bread budding-- which turned out really yummy)...I had recently been to a tapas restaurant where I'd indulged in a simple butter cake topped with a crisp bruleéd layer of sugar served alongside a smattering of caramelized fresh fruit. My imagination was sparked by this sophisticated deconstruction of an old-fashioned upside down pineapple cake. I pondered inverted desserts and apple tarte tartin also came to mind. What makes these sorts of desserts so divine? The deep, rich, buttery caramel flavors contrasted with a simple cake, crust or bread-y base, and juicy, seasonal fruit. We whipped out a bunch of ingredients, she ran back to her house to get these luscious pears for me, I ran out to the store, and the festivities were on! —kaykay

What You'll Need

Ingredients

• Upside Down Bread Pudding with Carmelized Pears
• ¹/₄ cupunsalted butter
  
• ¹/₂ cuplight brown sugar
  
• 1 tablespoonlight corn syrup
  
• 1.5 - 2 ripe pears, peeled and sliced
  
• ¹/₃ cuppecans, toasted and chopped
  
• 3 large croissants, cut crosswise into 1-inch slices
  
• 3 large eggs
  
• ¹/₃ cupsugar
  
• 1 cup
  2 tablespoons half and half
• 1 teaspoonvanilla
  
• ¹/₂ teaspooncinnamon
  
• pinch of salt
  
• freshly ground nutmeg, to taste
  

• Brandied Custard Sauce
• 1 ¹/₂ cupswhole milk
  
• ¹/₄ cupsugar
  
• 3 large eggs
  
• ³/₄ teaspoonvanilla
  
• 1-2 tablespoonspear brandy or brandy, to taste