Blueberry Croissant Bake is a delightfully delicious breakfast recipe. With fluffy croissants, juicy blueberries that burst in your mouth and a cream cheese custard that ties it together it will soon become a family favorite. This blueberry croissant casserole is oven baked to crispy breakfast perfection!
Recipes like the Brie Croissant, Mini Croissant Sandwiches and the Air Fryer Croissants are all about delicious buttery croissants.
The Zucchini Carrot Fritters, Ham Fritters and Bacon Corn Fritters work as savory recipes for breakfast, brunch or lunch.
Jump to:
🤍 Recipe Highlights
I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the recipe in the points below:
- Versatile: not every recipe ticks both the breakfast and desert boxes. But this one does! Whether it be the smell of croissants wafting through the house to get you up in the morning or a bowl and spoon with a slice of this casserole after dinner, both options will delight!
- Blueberries: bursting with juiciness and flavor. They are such a wonderful fruit to bake with.
- Easy to make: whilst it is an impressive looking dish, it actually needs only very simple steps to make. All home chefs of a variety of skill levels can whip this up without fear that a lot will go wrong.
- Aroma: the smell of this oven baked treat really hits when in the oven around the 20 minute mark. It only gets better every minute there after 😉👍.
- Special occasion worthy: so some mornings you might simply want some vegemite on toast to start your day (Aussies 🤍). But there are some other days when you are with family or friends and want to make something that is a bit more awe inspiring. A special occasion brunch perhaps. This is it my friend. There is no doubt it inspires awe. Blueberry Danish kind of awe that melts in your mouth.
🥗 Ingredients
The photo below is to show you everything you need to make this sweet croissant breakfast casserole. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.
As you can see the recipe calls for:
- Vanilla essence: we use this in the cream cheese custard.
- Caster sugar: we add a small amount of this to give the custard a slight sweetness.
- Lemon juice: bottled lemon juice is totally fine to use. This gives a slight citrus zing!
- Cream cheese: we need 1 standard 250 gram (7 oz) block of this. It is much easier to beat (cream) at room temperature, so grab it out as a starting point in the recipe steps.
- Eggs: we need 3, free range are always best to use and small to medium size works well!
- Blueberries: such great little beauties that hold their own in a number of recipes. This recipe calls for fresh blueberries.
- Cream: this is heavy cream not dollop or whipped cream. We use this in the custard.
- Croissants: these are large bakery style croissants. If they are a day or 2 old that will be fine. They will crisp up again nicely when baked.
Top Tip: I like to provide you with a number of substitutions and variations giving you an array of options when making my recipes. If in doubt of any of the above ingredients, or wanting alternatives, read this section (further below) before jumping into the instructions on how to make the recipe which are coming next 😉👌.
🍳 Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions to make this baked blueberry croissant pudding. We start by preparing the croissants.
- Chop the croissants (Photo 1)
- Add them to a greased baking dish (Photo 2)
- Add the blueberries (Photo 3)
- Whip the cream cheese (Photo 4)
👩🍳 How to Make Blueberry Croissant Bake
Start by using a knife and chopping board to slice the croissants in half lengthways and then chop them into large chunks as seen in the photos above.
Once done, spray a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and add the chopped croissant pieces to the prepared baking dish.
Next sprinkle the blueberries over the croissant pieces and use your fingers to push some of them down to the base of the baking dish.
Once done we start to make the cream cheese custard. You will need an electric mixer or stand mixer for this.
Add the cream cheese to the bowl and beat till it creams and softens. Then add the vanilla extract and allow this to be combined.
- Add the sugar (Photo 5)
- Add the vanilla (Photo 6)
- Next add the lemon juice (Photo 7)
- Add the eggs (Photo 8)
Next pour in the lemon juice. Keep the mixer going and the transfer in the eggs.
Once these have combined with the cream cheese add the cream.
Next pour cream cheese mixture over the croissant blueberry combo. You can see this in the photo below.
- Add the cream and combine (Photo 9)
- Pour the custard over the baking dish (Photo 10)
- Let it sit for 15 - 20 minutes (Photo 11)
- Bake uncovered then cover (Photo 12)
After we have poured the cream cheese custard into the dish we want to let it sit so that the croissant pieces can start to absorb the custard.
Set a timer for 15 to 20 minutes and the time will fly by!
You can also preheat the oven around now so that it isn't hot and ready to go for 20 minutes before you are ready to put the bake in.
We want to allow the croissant pudding to bake for 20 minutes uncovered. This allows the croissant pieces to crisp and turn a lovely light golden brown.
From there we want to use oven mits to remove the baking dish from the oven, place it onto a heatproof surface and pulled a layer of aluminium foil over the top.
This step allows the custard to cook through but not overly brown the top of the bake.
At the 45 minute mark you can use a tooth pick to test for doneness.
If it comes out clean then it is cooked, if there is still wet mixture on the toothpick it needs to cook for a little bit longer to ensure that the custard sets and the slice becomes 'sliceable'. 😉👌.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
Oj, a cup of tea, coffee and a warm slice of this lemon blueberry croissant bake dusted with powdered sugar (confectioners’ sugar) and a drizzle of vanilla custard and you will be all set. It is practically heaven sent!
Another option you can try is vanilla ice cream or whipped cream dolloped on top. These work especially well if you are serving the croissant bake as a 'dessert' recipe as opposed to it being a breakfast or brunch treat.
It is soft, decadent and so very good! I wish they had a blueberry emoji but all I could find was this bunch of grapes 🍇 😂. It somewhat does the trick though right!
👍 How to Guide
How to Store
Store leftovers (if you have any 😂) in a sealed air tight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. They are best reheated before being consumed.
How to Freeze
Nah, don't do it. Trust me this is a heat and eat dish that ticks the boxes then but doesn't stand for long periods frozen and then reheated. Or it might, but I haven't tried it like that and I don't want to tell you it will work if it won't. I personally don't recommend freezing before or after.
How to Reheat
Place leftover slices onto a plate and cover with cling film. Then reheat in the microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes or until warmed through.
😉 Substitutions and Variations
Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:
- Vanilla essence is much cheaper than vanilla extract. If you want to use that instead, you can.
- You can use white sugar in place of the caster sugar if you need to.
- Bottled lemon juice is fine to use!
- If you want to use juice from a lemon you can also zest some of the skin and sprinkle the lemon zest over the top of the croissant bake.
- You can add additional fresh berries such as raspberries, strawberries, black berries or a combination of berries if you wish too.
- You can use vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or maple syrup as alternative serving ideas to the vanilla custard.
- If you want to add a side of bacon, I won't stop you.
💡 Tasty Tips
Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:
- It is important to grease the baking dish before adding the croissant pieces to ensure the slices will come out easily and not stick.
- When beating the cream cheese our aim is for it to be super soft with no lumps.
- When making the custard we want to combine the cream but not keep mixing till the point that it begins to whip (we don't want to whip it good so to speak 😂).
- To allow the bake to sit before we put it into the oven, you might want to hold off preheating the oven until you are closer to the step of putting the baking dish in. (Saves a hot oven doing not a lot for 20 minutes).
- If you want to prepare this recipe the night before and refrigerate (covered) overnight you can. In which case remove from the fridge whilst the oven is preheating so that you are not putting a cold baking dish into a hot oven (it needs a minute or 5 to come back to room temperature).
🤓 Frequently Asked Questions
Can I bake croissants in the oven?
Yes absolutely you can. If you are wanting to cook a store bought plain croissant it will only take around 5 minutes for the pastry to become flaky. For an oven baked croissant and blueberry combination it will take around 45 minutes for the custard tying it together to cook.
Can I use frozen blueberries in place of fresh blueberries?
I would not substitute frozen blueberries for fresh ones in this recipe. That is because frozen blueberries will let out a lot of liquid when they are being baked. This then goes into the wet custard mixture and throws off the cook time as specified in the recipe card.
Do I need to grease a baking dish before putting it into the oven?
In almost all cases, yes you do. Doing so ensures that the contents of the dish won't stick to the dish and can be easily removed once baked.
😍 More Easy Breakfast Recipes
Skip heading to the local cafe on a Saturday morning and whip up this recipe that will tick all of the same boxes but you can still have your pjs and slippers on at the same time!
- Raspberry Pancakes
- Lemon Pancakes
- Oatmeal Strawberry Muffins
- Mini Pancakes Recipe
- Raspberry Oatmeal Muffins
- Blueberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins
- Strawberry Pancakes
- Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes
It is time to get our blueberry bake on my friends! You can also find all of my breakfast recipes in the one spot.
Adrianne
PIN and save this recipe for later!
Hunger still got you? You can SUBSCRIBE to receive the latest recipes, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook.
📖 Recipe
Blueberry Croissant Bake
Ingredients
- 4 large croissants Note 1
- 1 ½ cups blueberries Note 2
- 250 grams/7 oz cream cheese room temperature
- ⅓ cup caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice Note 3
- 3 medium eggs free range
- 250 ml/1 cup heavy cream
To serve (optional):
- icing sugar
- blueberries
- vanilla custard
Instructions
- Preheat your oven: to 180°C / 350-375°F / Gas Mark 4-5 (Note this is a necessary step, however, you can do it after you have combined the dish whilst it soaks up the custard for 15-20 minutes).
- Baking dish: grease a baking dish with cooking spray.
- Prepare the croissants: use a knife and chopping board to cut the croissants into pieces. Then place the pieces into the greased baking dish.
- Blueberries: add the blueberries to the croissant pieces. Push some of them down into the base of the dish also.
- Cream cheese custard: add the cream cheese to a hand held mixer and beat. Then add the sugar and combine. Next pour in the vanilla extract followed by the lemon juice. Add the eggs and combine. Then pour in the cream and mix till the custard is smooth and consistent.
- Combine: pour the cream cheese custard over the top of the baking dish with the croissants and blueberries.
- Let soak: allow 15 to 20 minutes for the dish to soak up the custard before baking.
- Oven bake: place the baking tray into the preheated oven and baked uncovered for 20 minutes. Then use oven mits to remove the dish, place it onto a heat proof surface, cover it with aluminium foil and return it to the oven for an additional 25 minutes. Note 4
- Serve: once you have removed the baking dish from the oven, place it on a heat proof surface and discard the alfoil. Then use a small sieve to sprinkle icing sugar (confectioners sugar) over the top. Once done take a sharp knife and cut the casserole into slices. Drizzle vanilla custard over the top and serve with additional fresh blueberries.
Notes
- Note 1 - Croissants: these are large bakery style croissants. You will likely be able to get them from your local supermarket but if not, head to the bakery. If you can't get a large size, you can use 6 smaller ones or 12 mini croissants.
- Note 2 - Blueberries: this is approximately 200 grams.
- Note 3 - Lemon juice: store bought bottled lemon juice is totally fine to use. Or you can use a real lemon in which case, zest it and sprinkle that over the top to serve also! 👌
- Note - Cooking time: this dish will take 45 minutes to bake. During that time the custard sets so that the bake can be sliced into pieces. To test if it is cooked through, you can use a tooth pick and pierce it into the centre of the dish. If it comes out clean the dish is ready. If it still has wet custard on it, cook it for a little longer and then retest.
Joan says
What is the vanilla custard that goes on to after baking? I've reread this recipe a couple of times and can't figure it out. I thought the custard gets poured over the croissants before baking.
Adrianne says
Hi Joan. You are right in that the custard gets poured over the croissants before baking. That helps to set it into a 'casserole'. I then like to pour extra store bought normal vanilla custard over it to serve it. Or you could use ice-cream. Up to you but the pairing of the bake with an extra does make it even more delicious. Thanks 😄😄.
Laura says
What size baking dish did you use?
Adrianne says
Hi Laura. I use a large baking dish that measures 30cm x 22 cm. In inches this is 12 inches x 9 inches. You are pretty open with this recipe in terms of the size of baking dish ie it doesn't have to be the exact same size as the one I use. My recommendation is one that looks like it will fit everything (the large croissants and all) without it being too shallow. You want to get a little bit of thickness to the custard so the other measurement of mine is 5cm or 2 inches for the depth. Happy baking. This is one of my favorite recipes on the site and all time favorite ones to cook, the smell is amazing!! 😄😄 P.S sorry if you were waiting for a quicker response. It was night time here when your comment came through so I was sleeping.