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–+ servings
Small glass jars filled with creamy yellow Bread Kheer custard, topped with chopped pistachios, arranged neatly on an ornate silver tray.
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Bread Kheer

An easy kheer made with pantry ingredients!
Course Dessert
Cuisine Indian, Pakistani
Servings 12 half cup servings.
Author Sarah Mir

Ingredients

  • 1 litre Milk (Whole)
  • 1 litre Half and half (can substitute with ½ litre milk and ½ litre cream or whatever combination you have handy. all milk works too, it will just take longer to cook down and be lighter tasting)
  • 3 Plain Croissants
  • 5 Tea Rusks (Papay) not cake rusks
  • 6 cardamoms seeds removed and lightly crushed OR 1 tsp cardamom powder
  • 1 pinch saffron
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ¼ cup minced pistachios
  • ¼ cup minced blanched almonds

Instructions

  • Heat milk and half and half in a large heavy-bottomed pot on the stove (not nonstick)
  • Bring the mixture to a boil, tear the croissants and rusks into pieces and add them in
  • Simmer until both breads are soft, about 5-6 minutes.
  • Puree with a handheld (immersion) blender or in a regular blender.
  • Pour back in the pot (if using a regular blender). Add the cardamom, saffron, sugar and half the nuts
  • Simmer on low heat, stirring frequently, the mixture will darken and thicken. As it becomes thick it starts to bubble, so please do be careful!
    TIP: Leave a wooden spoon in the pot to prevent any bubbling over
  • Cook it down by about 40 percent (nearly half) of what it was –this takes about 20-30 minutes depending on the pot you are using.
  • Put in your serving dishes/glasses, let cool, and scatter with the remaining nuts right before serving.

Notes

When the milk is initially cooking down it will require less stirring as long as the temperature is right, as it thickens you will need to keep a more watchful eye to avoid burnt bits! If your milk does start to burn and stick DO NOT scrape the burnt bits off the bottom. Transfer to another pot and leave the burnt bits behind.
Cleaning tip: if your milk does burn then sprinkle baking soda over the bottom of the burnt pot, let it sit for a few minutes, then bring to a boil with a few cups of hot water. This will make cleaning MUCH easier!
For regular bread start with ½ of a loaf of bread, white preferred.