Cornaby's Five Star Spreadable Fruit Giveaway...Featuring Raspberry-White Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding

After battling a stomach bug for the past couple of days, I'm finally feeling much better today. Well enough to get into the kitchen to bake up a little something special to spotlight a really fantastic product that I'm going to share with you today!!  Cornaby's recently sent me two jars of their Five Start Spreadable Fruit to try: Raspberry and Raspberry-Jalapeno. These low-sugar fruit spreads are made from raspberries that they grow on 20 acres of land in Utah. These spreads are thickened with natural ingredients and contain no corn syrup...and about half the calories of regular jams.

These products are very tasty...when I opened the first jar, I was immediately impressed with the fresh smell of the jam. It smelled just like fresh raspberries! The Raspberry flavor was not overly sweet, which really lets the natural tart flavor of raspberries shine through. The Raspberry-Jalapeno has a very mild heat that does not overpower the flavor of the berries. I served part of the Raspberry-Jalapeno over cream cheese with crackers for a snack one evening. It was so good that I didn't get a chance to snap a picture of it! I'm saving the other half of the jar to make a spicy red wine-raspberry sauce to serve over roasted pork tenderloin.

After using part of my Raspberry spread on biscuits one morning, I saved the rest until I found the perfect recipe to showcase its fruity goodness. When I was flipping through a cookbook earlier this week, I found a recipe for Chocolate and Raspberry Croissant Pudding. I immediately decided that this could work! I altered the recipe to sub in white chocolate for the milk and dark chocolate the recipe called for...and I decided to cut my croissants in half and spread them with the Cornaby's Raspberry Five Star Spreadable Fruit. When paired with fresh raspberries, this gave my bread pudding a delicious one-two punch of raspberry flavor!

Raspberry-White Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding

adapted from Ultimate Chocolate Recipes 

Step 1:  Preheat oven to 350. Butter a large oval casserole dish (at least 2 quart capacity) and set aside. Cut six small croissants in half and spread with Cornaby's Raspberry Spreadable Fruit. Cut each croissant half into three pieces. Arrange them in the buttered casserole dish, making sure that the jam side faces away from the dish. Sprinkle a small container of raspberries and 2 ounces coarsely chopped white chocolate on top of the croissants.

Step 2:  Make the white chocolate custard. Add 2 cups half and half to a medium non-stick pot. Bring just to a simmer over medium heat. Remove the pot from the heat and add 3.5 ounces chopped white chocolate, 1 tbs. vanilla, and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Whisk to combine, then quickly whisk in 3 large eggs (beaten). 

Step 3:  Evenly pour the white chocolate custard over the croissant/raspberry/white chocolate mixture. Press the croissants into the custard to make sure all pieces are submerged. Place the casserole on a baking sheet and cook until puffed and golden. This took about 45 minutes in my oven. Make sure to rotate the baking sheet halfway through to make sure the pudding cooks evenly.

Step 4:  Remove the bread pudding from the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Scoop into individual serving bowls. You can serve it with sweetened whipped cream, vanilla ice cream...or just as is. If you like your desserts on the sweeter side, ice cream would be a great pairing. 

I actually enjoyed having a serving of the pudding au natural! The tart raspberries played really well against the little nuggets of melted white chocolate...and the jam-slathered croissants ensured a bit of raspberry in every bite! The cinnamon is very subtle...but, to me, it's an essential ingredient in bread pudding. I hope you'll give this a try. It is fancy enough for company, but easy enough to whip up for a special treat anytime.

So...how would you like to win a two-pack of Cornaby's Five Star Spreadable Fruit to cook with in your kitchen? Cornaby's is going to give one of my readers a two pack of Five Star Spreadable Fruit: one Raspberry and one Cherry Berry. To enter, leave a comment telling me how you would like to use these fruit spreads. For a second comment, visit my new and improved Weekend Gourmet Facebook page and Like me. If you've followed me on Facebook before, please note that this is a new page that I started this week...so you'll need to follow again. 

Please leave a separate comment for each entry...and make sure you leave your e-mail address so I can find you if you're the winner!! I'll accept entries until 1159 p.m. on Wednesday, March 7th. The winner will be announced on March 8th...good luck!!

Share this post