Cranberries and rich sweet cream cheese in a custardy creamy bread pudding. It’s a perfect Christmas breakfast or dessert!
FYI, Read this entire post and the recipe notes for more bread pudding/french toast recipe ideas and tips!
You HAVE to make this sweet and tart cranberry cream cheese bread pudding real soon! I’m a big fan of bread pudding and since Christmas is coming up, I thought I would make something sweet using fresh cranberries so I came up with this cranberry cream cheese bread pudding oh and these luscious leftover cranberry sauce crumble bars.
I love bread pudding and baked french toast but I am always wondering what’s the difference between the two? They both have the same ingredients like bread, eggs, and milk. Anyone know the difference? I was going to call this baked french toast like I did with my baked blueberry french toast recipe but then I changed it to bread pudding. I guess it can be called baked french toast too right?
Whatever they are called, I love them both! I especially love this too easy cranberry cream cheese bread pudding. You will fall in love at first bite. Seriously, I could eat the whole pan. My favorite part of this bread pudding is biting into the cranberries and sweet cream cheese at the same time. Oh my goodness! I also love the slightly soft but tad craggy edges. Second day leftovers taste even better! The other great thing I love about this recipe is that I didn’t cut the bread into cubes (quick prep)! That’s one less step you won’t have to worry about.
The first time I made this bread pudding I used fresh straight from the package cranberries (uncooked). I also didn’t use cream cheese. The final result? Meh. It was just okay, nothing to rave about. I personally didn’t care for it. I felt like it was missing a lot of flavor. The cranberries were way too tart, not enough sugar and the cranberries tasted lonely. I wanted something else but I didn’t want to add typical orange flavor. It needed something creamy.
I decided to go with cream cheese because I knew it would complement the sweet and tart cranberries. I also cooked them almost the same way I cooked my cranberry sauce recipe, minus the orange flavor.
For the batter I used all basic ingredients: eggs, milk, vanilla extract.
Same for the cream cheese: an egg, sugar and vanilla extract and and a pinch of salt.
You could also make this a day in advance. Do all the steps in the recipe but instead of baking it right away, cover the pan with foil and refrigerate until morning. For the rest of the recipe just scroll below.
You are going to want to make this festive looking treat during the holidays. Your family and friend will love you for it!
Here’s a couple of ideas to make this bread pudding even more epic:
- Use apple cinnamon bread, raisin bread or brioche bread
- Texas toast instead of regular loaf bread. No need to stack thick bread (Italian bread, french bread etc) but you will need to add more milk, eggs and sugar. I kept my recipe simple, using regular sandwich bread which didn’t require a lot of milk, eggs or sugar. Sweet breads like raisin or apple etc you can probably reduce the sugar a bit.
- Try blueberries instead of cranberries, or combine them both.
- Add cooked down apples with the cranberries.
- If you want to be fancy, you could remove some of the cranberries from the sauce pan (the ones that still kept some of its shape)and let the rest of the cranberries cook down longer. I did that for this recipe. If you look at the photo right above, you will see them on the top center of the bread.
Cranberries and rich sweet cream cheese smothered in a custardy creamy bread pudding. It's a perfect Christmas breakfast or dessert!
- 1 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp butter (dice 2 tbsp of the reserved butter) only add 1 tbsp and reserve 2 tablespoons
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 8 slices stale sandwich bread
- 6 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place all of the cranberry ingredients into a small saucepan (except for the vanilla extract, reserve the 2 tbsp of butter) pan over high heat and bring to a boil. The cranberries will began to burst. Cook uncovered and stirring frequently 5-8 or right until the sauce starts to thicken. Place in a bowl and set to the side. Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
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Add all of the cream cheese ingredients to a medium bowl and with an electric mixture mix until combined.
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Place slices of bread in a 10.5 x 7.5 baking pan side by side. Until the pan is full. Stack by placing another slice on top of each slice of bread.
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Add all of the milk mixture ingredients into a medium sized bowl. Mix well. With your hands, tear a hole into the top slices of bread. You will be adding the cream cheese mixture into the holes of the bread soon. Alternatively you can skip making holes in the bread and just add the cream cheese mixture all over the top of the bread (do this step after you add the milk mixture).
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Pour the milk mixture all over the bread. Press the bread gently into the milk. Wait about 10-15 minutes so the bread can absorb the milk. Drop spoonfuls of half of the cream cheese mixture into each teared hole. Reserve the rest of the cream cheese mixture. I was able to fit 8 slices of bread into my pan.
***SEE NOTES***
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Add the cranberry sauce all over the top of the bread. Next, scatter butter all over. Cook until golden brown for about 35-40 minutes. Add the reserved cream cheese all over the top of the bread pudding 10 minute before the bread pudding is done.
Use a 9X13 pan if you want. You should be able to fit 12 slices of bread (stacked on top of each other) in the pan and it should look like this --> HERE. So six slices side by side in the pan then another 6 on top of that.
- To make in a 9X13 pan using a regular sandwich or loaf bread only: 1/2 cup of milk, 2 eggs, 1/3 cup of sugar or a bit more if you like, 3 tablespoons of butter and a bit more vanilla extract. If using thicker slices of bread you will definitely need to add more ingredients.
- Cranberries: 1/2 cup water, 2 cups cranberries, 1/2 cup sugar, 1.5 tablespoons of butter and vanilla extract.
- Cream cheese mixture: 8 oz of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of sugar, one egg and a bit more vanilla extract. Follow the same recipe steps.
Overnight bread pudding:
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Cover pan with tin foil and put it in the fridge overnight.
- Once you are ready to bake it in the morning, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Bake uncovered for 30-45 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.
Make it Same Day:
- Leave the bread in the pan with the mixture alone for 10 minutes so it can absorb the milk mixture.
Bake uncovered for 30-45 minutes, until puffed and golden brown
Here are some ideas to make this bread pudding even more epic.
- Use apple cinnamon bread, raisin bread or brioche bread.
- Texas toast instead of regular loaf bread. No need to stack thick bread (also Italian bread, french bread etc) but you will need to add more milk and eggs and sugar. I kept my recipe simple, using regular sandwich bread which didn't require a lot of milk, eggs or sugar. Sweet breads like raisin or apple etc you can probably reduce the sugar a bit.
- Try blueberries instead of cranberries, or combine them both.
- Add cooked down apples with the cranberries.
- If you want to be fancy, you could remove some of the cranberries from the saucepan (the ones that still kept some of its shapes)and let the rest of the cranberries cook down longer. I did that for this recipe. If you look at the second photo on the post, you will see them placed in the top center of the bread.
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This is so GORGEOUS April! I bought more cranberries just so I could experiment with a version of this recipe that my family can eat (dairy & egg allergies here). I’ll keep you posted. 😉
I wish I could taste your version. Can’t wait to hear the results. It’s so simple to make but so delicious! I’m going to make a big pan for Christmas. Thanks Catherine!
This looks gorgeous and delicious! I love cranberries and bread pudding! I am saving this recipe!
Absolutely delicious! I use croissants for this type of dish but must admit this looks way better. I always end up with a super messy plate full of heaven lol.
This recipe is perfect for Christmas morning – I love the pop tart cranberries add and the cream cheese gilds the lily. I’d eat this for breakfast AND dessert.
This would be perfect for our family brunch! I like the idea of prepping the night before, ready to bake the next morning!
Omggg I can’t wait to make this and have alongside a cup of coffee!! Looks SO GOOD!
I could eat this whole pan all by myself! It looks so good!
I was looking for a new , fresh idea for Christmas breakfast. This sounds perfect.
This looks soooo good! I love bread pudding AND french toast so this sounds like a winner!
I am going to try this with my leftover sauce that i froze from the holiday. It looks perfect, thanks for haring! I love your recipes!
Is it bad that I could eat this cranberry cream cheese pudding for breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert!? Your photos are stunning!! Can’t wait to give this dish a go 🙂
What a delicious post…I need to make more fun breakfasts like this!
Cranberry French toast sounds like exactly how I want to start my day on Christmas Day. So delicious and comforting.
What a great Christmas morning breakfast idea! Love the cream cheese in this!
This is amazing! I love that you didn’t even have to cut the bread, it actually looks very beautiful with whole slices. And the combination of cream cheese and cranberries sounds really great. Such a perfect holiday breakfast!
I love that this can be prepping in advance. Can you imagine the brunches! Oh my.
From the looks your cranberry bread pudding reminds me of a homemade cherry clafoutis and I do like this dessert. A bowl full of this would be welcome anytime, right now I wished it was my dessert after dinner. I should make more bread puddings in 2018!
You had me a bread pudding! This recipes looks divine. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Alisa!
Totally drooling here, such a pretty pudding bejeweled with those cranberries🙂
Thank you so much Camilla!
My husband LOVES bread pudding, so this is perfect! Plus now that we eat gluten free bread, it’s perfect for recipes like this since it’s already pretty dry, so it doesn’t have to wait to get stale (since I am the type of person who will set bread out to dry and then forget about it for 3 weeks, haha).
Haha. I never knew that about gluten free bread. Very interesting. If he loves bread pudding then he will be happy to have this. Thank you Samantha!
Yup….french toast this would be. Perfect for the holiday brunches this season….and I would eat this all year long. Yum!!
I think I can eat this all year around too. Just too good not to! Thank you Gloria.
This is such a perfect Christmas morning treat for my boys! It looks so festive! I’m definitely saving this one!
Your boys will LOVE it. Thank you Beth!
Good gawd, I need this in my life. You’ve taken ALL of my favorite holiday things and put them into this! Bookmarking and sharing this beauty. Thanks for sharing!
I said the same thing (good gawd) when I first tried it. Thank you Traci!
That looks gorgeous … and delicious! You have got a great imagination and this recipes turned out so well.
Thank you Ginny! It’s tastes just as good as it looks.
It’s a dessert and a breakfast dish! Either way its beautiful! Love all the colors and thank you for all the recipe notes. Super helpful!
Kathi, you’re welcome and thank you!
So it is either dessert OR breakfast OR both? I like it.
Yup. Its’ perfect for any time of the day! Thank you Ben.
I’m not usually a fan of bread pudding but I think the addition of tart cranberries and cream cheese would be perfect. I can’t wait to try it.