This Baklava Bread Pudding is a stunning combination of two delicious desserts: a soft and moist bread pudding with a caramelized baklava nut topping and hints of honey and cinnamon. It comes together in under an hour and tastes incredible!
In the mood for a classic instead? Check out my Easy Vanilla Bread Pudding, or my personal favorite Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding!
Read the full blog post below for detailed notes, tips, tricks, photos and videos.
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Why you'll love this recipe
It is incredibly easy. Everything comes together in just about 20 minutes with minimal effort, and then it's ready to go in the oven.
It tastes AMAZING. It is well balanced with notes of cinnamon, honey and caramelized nuts on top.
The texture is SO good! The softest pudding with crunchy caramelized nuts on top - if you're someone who likes texture and crunch in dessert, you will love this.
Video tutorial
Here is a short video tutorial for this recipe that I recommend watching:
Components of Baklava Bread Pudding`
This baklava bread pudding is made with 3 simple components:
- The bread. You can use any kind of white bread, and stale works best. I personally like to use King's Hawaiian's Original Hawaiian Sweet Rolls. I let them dry out on a rack for a few hours first
- Custard. A simple custard is made with hints of cinnamon to soak the bread. This cooks in the oven, so minimal cooking is required upfront!
- Baklava nut topping. A mixture of toasted nuts in a honey and cinnamon flavored syrup goes into the pan first, and caramelizes to create a baklava flavored topping when the bread pudding is turned out. I personally love walnuts best, but you can also add pistachio
Step by step photos
The detailed recipe is provided in the recipe card at the bottom of this post, but let's go over the steps with photos to help you visualize everything.
Cook together all the ingredients for the syrup until they melt together and combine:
Add the toasted, chopped nuts, cinnamon and lemon juice and mix in. Layer in the bottom of a springform pan and bake for a few minutes:
To make the custard, cook and stir all the ingredients until the butter has melted:
Add the chopped bread on top of the layer of nuts in the pan. Drench the bread in the custard fully:
Cook until the pudding is golden brown and slightly jiggly in the middle. Let it cool down for 30 minutes, then flip out of the pan, serve & enjoy!
Tips to perfect this recipe
Toast the nuts first! This brings out their flavor and aroma, and makes them crunchier.
Let the bread dry out a bit. Leave it out overnight or just for an hour or two. This helps ensure the pudding doesn't turn out too soggy.
Do not overcook the custard before baking! You only need to cook enough so the butter melts. The rest of the cooking happens in the oven!
Don't overbake the pudding. It should still be kind of jiggly in the middle when it comes out of the oven. Overcooking will result in an eggy, curdled texture.
Frequently asked questions
Since this bread pudding has nuts in it which are best when caramelized and crunchy, I don't recommend making it ahead of time. The nuts will become kind of soggy and lose their wonderful texture.
You can make this bread pudding in a dish and then serve out of it, too, instead of using a springform pan. If you do this, though, add the layer of nuts on top of the bread and custard (not on the bottom of the pan), and skip the first baking step.
Related recipes
Here are some more incredible desserts you can make with King's Hawaiian Rolls:
Baklava Bread Pudding Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8-10 servings
Description
A soft and moist bread pudding with a caramelized baklava nut topping and hints of honey and cinnamon made in under an hour!
Ingredients
Baklava nut topping:
- 2 cups nuts of choice (280g), roughly chopped and toasted for 5-7 minutes at 350F - I like walnuts but you can mix walnuts and pistachios
- ¼ cup honey (90g)
- ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar (100g)
- ½ cup unsalted butter (113g)
- 2 tbsp milk
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Squeeze of lemon juice
Custard:
- 1 ¾ cup milk (420g)
- ½ cup heavy cream (120g)
- 2 tbsp butter (28g)
- 2 eggs
- 2 yolks
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (65g)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
Assembly:
- 12-16 King's Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sweet rolls (or use similar size in white bread / brioche bread), ideally dried out for 1-2 hours
Instructions
Baklava nut topping:
- Toast the nuts if you haven't already
- Pre-heat oven to 350F (conventional) and prep a 9" springform pan with parchment paper on the bottom
- Add the honey, brown sugar, butter, milk and salt to a saucepan. Place on low flame and cook and stir until the butter has melted and the syrup starts to simmer and thicken up
- Remove from heat and stir in the nuts, cinnamon and lemon juice. Taste and adjust if needed
- Add the baklava nut mixture to the pan and spread it on the bottom evenly. Place in the pre-heated oven for just 5-7 minutes while you work on the custard. This step partially bakes the nut topping so it turns out more caramelized. Remove from the oven when done but keep the oven on at 350F
Custard:
- Add all the ingredients to a saucepan. Place on the stove on medium low heat, and cook and stir constantly for a few minutes until the butter has melted and the ingredients have combined. No need to thicken the custard!
Assembly:
- Cut the bread into ~1" cubes
- Add the bread into the pan that has the partially baked baklava nut topping in it, and press it down
- Pour over all the custard, making sure to get all the bread soaked
- Place the pan back into the oven and bake for ~35-40 minutes until the bread pudding looks golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. The pudding should still be jiggly - do not overcook!
- Remove from the oven and let the pudding cool in the pan for 20 minutes
- Once cooled, carefully remove the edges of the springform pan and flip it onto your serving board. Carefully remove the pan and peel off the parchment paper, so the nut topping should now be on top
- Serve the bread pudding while still warm, and enjoy!
Video Tutorial:
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Cook Time: 40 min
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
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