Pudding or breakfast? Thomasina Miers' recipe for croissants cooked with blackcurrant jam and custard

Torrijas are the Spanish equivalent of egg bread. Earlier this year in Madrid I had a version that used croissants instead of bread. The heady combination of buttery pastry, baked until caramelized and sticky and filled with a velvety pastry cream, had me staggering. It was a great start to the weekend with a coffee. Here, I flavored the custard with orange zest and cardamom, and added dollops of blackcurrant jam for pleasing bursts of color and tartness.

Blackcurrant jam croissant ' torrijas'

Traditionally, torrijas are fried in a pan, but this baked version, with its demerara crust, is a golden soufflé-like pudding.

Preparation 20 minCooking 50 minServes 4

200 ml cream 400 ml whole milk 5 crushed cardamom pods Zest of 1 orange 45 g butter 80 g demerara sugar 2 eggs plus 2 extra yolks 80 g golden caster sugar 4-5 all-butter croissants 140 g blackcurrant jam Crème fraîche or heavy cream, to serve

Heat the cream and milk with the cardamom and orange zest in a saucepan over low to medium heat until hot and simmering (I use a paring knife to has skin, but just make sure the bitter white marrow doesn't make custard). Reserve the milk to infuse. Now generously butter a shallow baking dish, about 30 x 20 cm wide. Sprinkle it with two to three heaped tablespoons of demerara sugar to make sure it's fully coated, tilting the dish to coat it evenly.

Heat the oven at 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4. Whisk the eggs and extra yolks with the caster sugar in a large bowl (try making financiers with the remaining whites). Strain the cream and milk mixture through a sieve and into the eggs and sugar, whisking as you do so. Discard zest and cardamom.

Slice croissants sideways like sandwiches and dip bottom halves in custard. Arrange them at the bottom of the baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining butter and all the jam. Now dip the top halves into the pastry cream, cut side down, then lift them, soaked in the pastry cream, onto the bottom croissant to sandwich them. Pour over the remaining pastry cream and sprinkle with the remaining demerara sugar. Bake for 35-40 minutes until puffed and caramelized. Eat immediately with crème fraiche or heavy single cream.

The simple flex

Use dairy-free milk to make custard if you want to avoid dairy. You can also omit the butter. Use chia seeds in place of eggs with dairy-free croissants or slices of stale bread, as in the classic recipe.