Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding.

Happy Monday everyone! The recipe I will be sharing with you today features these little guys:

I love Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls, I have been eating them for as long as I can remember! My mom always makes them on Saturday mornings. The combo of melty cream cheese icing(that I have eaten straight out of the container) and sweet cinnamon is just so irresistible!

I mean just look at these! What's not to love?! 

As delicious as these are alone, I decided to change it up a bit: I made them into bread pudding! It's bread pudding, but with a twist! Haha... I'm the only one laughing, huh? 

Well then, lets discuss how this recipe came to be and how to make it. Not too long ago, MeMa(Hi MeMa!) made Panettone bread pudding.  If you have never eaten Panettone, it's an extremely flavorful Italian sweet bread that is usually eaten around Christmas. The bread pudding she made with it was SO GOOD. Needless to say, I asked her for the recipe. It only requires a few ingredients: bread, eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla. It is such a blank canvas, you can add any type of bread you like! Having this recipe as a blank canvas was perfect; my cousin Joey suggested that I put a bread pudding recipe up here and MeMa's recipe was the perfect recipe to build off of. So after much brain storming, I decided to use cinnamon rolls instead of Panettone! And I am so glad I did, because the results were phenomenal. To make it, begin by pop open 2 cinnamon roll cans and and placing the cinnamon rolls on a parchment or silicon mat-lined baking sheet and bake them up. SAVE THE FROSTING FOR LATER.

Once the cinnamon rolls are done baking, allow them to cool slightly on the pan. Cut up the cinnamon rolls into cubes, enough to yield 6 heaping cups of cubes(you will have extra rolls). Transfer the cubes into a large bowl. 

In a small bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla until it looks smooth. Pour the liquid into the bowl with the cubed cinnamon rolls and stir everything together so the cinnamon rolls are soaked. Transfer this mixture into an 8"x8" baking pan sprayed with non-stick spray. 

Now, here is the strange part: put the 8"x8" pan into a 9"x13" pan. Fill the 9"x13" with boiling water, but NOT inside the 8"x8". Surrounding the 8"x8" pan with boiling water allows the custard in the bread pudding to puff up and cook nicely from the steam that is produced. I strongly suggest putting the  rectangular pan with the square pan inside of it in the oven before filling the 9"x13" with the boiling water. This way, you don't have to carry a heavy pan filled with boiling water that's splashing around. Once you have completed these steps, close the oven and let the bread pudding do its magic! 

While you're waiting, you can snack on some extra cinnamon rolls ;) 

When your bread pudding is done, take it out of the oven and drizzle on that delicious frosting that you saved! 

I'm a heavy drizzler :P

Once your bread pudding is frosted, dig in! You don't have to wait for it to cool! 

Enjoy!

Love,

Teresa

Ingredients

*2 cans Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls 

3 eggs 

2 cups 2% milk  

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

1 tsp. vanilla extract 

Boiling water

Yields: 9 generous servings 

Preheat the oven to 400. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Spray an 8"x8" square baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Boil enough water to fill a 9"x13" baking pan half way up. I boiled the water in a tea kettle so it would be easy to pour. 

Pop open the cinnamon roll cans and arrange 8 cinnamons rolls on each baking sheet. Set the frosting aside for later. Bake the rolls for 8-10 minutes until they are golden brown around the edges. Allow the rolls to cool on the baking sheets while combining the other ingredients. 

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Set aside. 

Cut just enough cinnamon rolls into small/medium sized cubes to equal 6 heaping cups of cubes. I measured it out as I cut them so I wouldn't waste any extra rolls that didn't need cut. I cut about 9 cinnamon rolls. Put the cubes into a large bowl. Add the egg mixture to the cinnamon roll cubes and gently stir them together to soak the cubes. Transfer this mixture into the square baking pan. Place this pan inside a 9"x13" baking pan. Cover the 8"x8" baking pan loosely with aluminum foil. 

Open your oven and put the 9"x13" baking pan with the 8"x8" baking pan inside of it on the center rack. Pour the boiling water inside the 9"x13" baking pan so it surrounds the 8"x8" baking pan half way up. DO NOT LET ANY WATER GET INSIDE THE 8"x8" BAKING PAN. 

Bake the bread pudding for 40 minutes. Once removed from the oven, drizzle the reserved frosting on top of the bread pudding. Cut into squares and serve either warm or chilled. Store in the refrigerator. 

*You will have extra cinnamon rolls and frosting. I put the cinnamon rolls in a Zip-Lock bag to save for breakfast and stored the extra frosting in the refrigerator. 

Recipe Adapted From: MeMa's Bread Pudding Recipe 

*Please do not take this recipe or photos from my blog and use them as your own. If you do wish to post my recipe on your blog, please ask for permission by emailing me. Thank you.