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Croissant Bread Pudding with Chocolate, Cherries, and Pecans

For the past 12 years, I have taught a class on Trade Secrets and Restrictive Covenants at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. It’s a lot of fun. The students are smart, talented, and inquisitive. They help me keep on top of my practice.

This year our final class is on Wednesday, November 28 — Thanksgiving Eve. What better way to start a long holiday weekend than to attend an evening class with an adjunct professor!

We need to celebrate the end of the semester with something sweet and decadent. This Croissant Bread Pudding features the buttery richness of croissants combined with tart cherries, smooth chocolate, toasted pecans, and sumptuous custard.

Earlier this year, I served the bread pudding at a dinner for 40 attorney friends who were in town for a continuing education program. It was a hit, so much so that a friend remarked that she had “embarrassed herself” by going back for multiple servings. I thought she was just showing her good taste.

Don’t embarrass yourself. Try some Croissant Bread Pudding.

Croissant Bread Pudding

  • ¼ cup dried cherries
  • ¼ cup pecans
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 1 ½ cups sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 3 day-old croissants
  • 1 oz. grated bittersweet chocolate

Cover the cherries in a small bowl with boiling water. Let the cherries sit for 20 minutes. Drain then set aside.

Toast the pecans under the broiler for 1-2 minutes. Cool the nuts, then chop.

Preheat the oven to 350*. Grease 4 small ovenproof bowls with cooking spray.

Heat the cream in a heavy saucepan. Slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds into the cream, then add the pod. Simmer over low heat for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the bean pod.

Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Slowly pour in the cream while whisking the egg mixture to prevent the yolks from cooking.

Tear the croissants into 6 pieces each. Cover the croissants with the egg and cream mixture. Allow the croissants to absorb the liquid for about 10 minutes. Then add the cherries.

Transfer the mixture into the prepared bowls. Sprinkle the top of each bowl with chocolate and toasted pecans. Bake for 25 minutes or until set.

Adapted from Cooking for Two: Perfect Meals for Pairs

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Doing Hard Things

Photo by Alessandro Bianchi on Unsplash

Anything worthwhile in life is hard.

Winning a championship. Building a successful business. Nurturing a relationship. Each requires vision, passion, and dedication. Each requires a commitment of time, effort, and resources.

As human beings, we are most content when we are growing and progressing. Doing hard things is the best way to progress. In the end, the reward is worth the effort, even if you fall short of your goal.

I’m happiest when I push myself to achieve. I like having a little bit more to do than I can comfortably get done in a day. It makes me prioritize, focus, and act decisively. At the end of the day, I feel accomplished. When I stop pursuing personal growth, on the other hand, life becomes mundane.

That is why I have chosen to push myself out of my comfort zone.

In February, I learned of an Executive LL.M. program in Litigation Management offered by Baylor Law. The program focuses on the skills necessary to successfully manage a docket of high-volume, high-stakes litigation.

Over 14 months, the candidates take online courses centered on “very legal-specific strategic, analytical, business and cost management skills.” Three times during the program, candidates take a week of classes on-site to supplement online learning.

For six months, I had an internal debate over the merits of enrolling in the program. I came up with many reasons not to enroll – cost, work demands, and uncertainty about the future. Still, I could not escape the gnawing feeling that I need to bring a little turmoil and growth to my life.

It’s much easier to do nothing, so that’s precisely what I did. But representatives from Baylor were persistent, leaving messages for me every few weeks extolling the virtues of the program. The gnawing feeling continued.

After counseling with Rebecca and with trusted friends, I made the plunge last week. I submitted a resume and statement of interest on Thursday, and spoke with an advisor from Baylor and completed my application on Friday. On Saturday, I purchased tickets to travel to the orientation later this week. Classes start on September 23.

I’m excited to conquer this new challenge. I can do hard things.

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What vs. Why

Everyone wants to tell you what to do.

Vote for my candidate. Buy my product. Subscribe to my blog. There’s no shortage of advice on what you should do.

But knowing what to do is only part of the equation. Understanding why you should do it is the real question.

Agency — the ability to make choices — is life’s greatest freedom. But though we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of those actions. Choose well and you reap happy consequences. Choose unwisely and your decision will haunt you, perhaps forever.

If you want to influence other people, do not tell them what to do. Rather, help them understand why they should follow your advice.

In my role as a lawyer, my job is not limited to advising my clients about their legal options but also includes helping them recognize the long-term consequences of those options. They need to appreciate how the law interacts with their business so that they can make sound decisions going forward. And they are more likely to “buy in” to my trial strategy when they understand how that strategy will play out.

As a teacher, my job is to help students make sense of the law so that they can give sound legal advice to their future clients. Making sense of the law involves more than discussing the topic of the day. It includes explaining the rules of court, providing insight into how judges think, and applying ethical principles to real-life situations. Students who understand the law in its proper context become lawyers who confidently help clients navigate through turbulent legal waters.

And in my most important area of influence, my critical (and never-ending) job is to teach my children how to have happy and successful lives. I must not only teach them what they must do while they are living in my home, but also help them understand why they should choose to follow those principles when I no longer oversee their lives. My job is to teach them the “why” of life so they will want to make good choices for themselves.

You may be able to use your position of authority to compel someone to do what you want them to do, but compulsion is short-lived. If you want to truly influence another person, teach them why they should do what you want them to do. And then let them choose.

When they understand the why behind a decision, knowing what to do becomes a much easier choice.