Casserole

French Toast Casserole

Christmas morning can sometimes be a bit chaotic with hustle and bustle of gift giving, cleaning up of all the shreds of paper and ribbon, and then sometimes the mad dash to clean the house before relatives arrive for round two of Christmas. At least that’s how it is in our home. However, on Christmas morning I always want to sit down and have a nice breakfast with my crew, I just don’t always have the time to make a big Christmas worthy breakfast. However, I do have the time to throw a casserole in the oven. So here you have French Toast Casserole to save the morning!

Several years back I posted a recipe for Blueberry French Toast Casserole. Not to toot my own horn, but toot toot! It’s amazing if you haven’t given it a try. What I love about french toast casserole is you can prep the dish the day before, throw it in the oven in the morning, and boom! Just like that you have a hot and delicious breakfast with almost no work. This recipe has all that delicious cinnamon goodness baked into a sweet bread pudding with a crispy streusel topping. It is so tasty!

So if you are looking for a quick and easy breakfast that you can make in advance, then this is the recipe for you.

French Toast Casserole

INGREDIENTS
12 slices sourdough bread (or a sourdough loaf), cut into 1” cubes
10 eggs
2 c milk
1/2 c heavy cream
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 c sugar
1 c brown sugar, divided
1/2 c flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c cold butter, cut into small pieces

STEPS

Cut the loaf of sourdough into cubes and distribute them in a greased 9” x 13” pan.
In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, and vanilla.
Whisk in a 1/2 cup of the brown sugar and all the granulated sugar to the egg mixture
Pour the egg mixture over the bread.
Using your fingers or the back of a spatula gently press all of the bread pieces down into the egg mixture.
Cover the baking dish with foil and place in the fridge 8 hours or overnight.
For the streusel topping, in a medium bowl, mix together the other 1/2 cup of brown sugar, flour, cinnamon.
Add the cut-up butter to the topping mix and using a large fork or pastry cutter mix it all together until it is a nice crumbly consistency.
Store the streusel in a Ziploc bag in the fridge until ready to bake.
When ready to bake, remove the casserole dish and streusel from the fridge and allow it to sit on the counter for about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350º.
Sprinkle the streusel topping over the french toast.
Cover the dish back up with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
Remove the foil and continue baking until the top is a nice golden brown and the egg mixture is set, about an additional 15–20.
Remove from oven and allow it to cool for 5 minutes.
Cut and serve with a pat of butter and some warm syrup.

I run a household that always seems to be full of friends and family who come to visit on the weekends. I absolutely love entertaining and cooking delicious meals for my visitors. What I don’t love is when I’m in the kitchen for hours on end. It means I am missing out on valuable time with them. This is a breakfast dish that is perfect for when you are entertaining, or heck, even if you just want an easy breakfast in the morning for the family. You prepare this in advance before your company even arrives, and then just pull it out and pop it in the oven in the morning. And by make it in advance is that you literally take the ingredients, plop them in a dish (in an orderly fashion of course) and refrigerate. How much more easy could it get? Easy to prep and easy to bake. That is my kind of breakfast!

INGREDIENTS
12 slices French toast bread, cut into 1” cubes
16 oz (2-8 oz blocks) cream cheese, cut into cubes
2 c blueberries
12 eggs
2 c milk
1/2 c syrup
1 tsp vanilla

STEPS

Grease a 9” x 13” baking dish.
Spread half of the bread cubes into the bottom of the baking dish.
Sprinkle about three quarters of the cream cheese cubes over the bread.
Sprinkle about three quarters of the blueberries into the dish.
Top with remaining bread, cream cheese, and blueberries.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, syrup, and vanilla.
Pour the egg mixture over the entire dish.
Using your fingers or the back of a spatula gently press all of the bread pieces down into the egg mixture.
Cover the baking dish with foil and place in the fridge 8 hours or overnight.
When ready to bake remove the dish from the fridge and allow it to sit on the counter for about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350º.
Keep the dish covered in foil and bake for 45 minutes.
Remove the foil and continue baking until the top is s nice golden brown and the egg mixture is set, about an additional 20–30 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow it to cool for 5 minutes.
Cut and serve.