There are a lot of “bests” involved in being a kid on holiday mornings, but most of my favorite memories revolve around sitting at the breakfast table eating pancakes or French toast or some other special occasion meal that my parents whipped up. Now that I’m an adult, I still love sitting around the breakfast table and indulging in the kind of meal that takes a little bit more effort than cereal and milk, but now I’m the one responsible for getting up early and getting it on the table before hangriness takes over my household. Seriously, I don’t know how my parents did it all those years!
Enter: the overnight French toast casserole. AKA total breakfast lifesaver. Basically, it involves throwing a bunch of ingredients into a pan the night before, letting them sit in the fridge overnight, and then baking them off the next morning. The beauty in this is that the bread actually requires that long soak so that it’s extra luscious and creamy on the inside even after a stint in the oven.
In order to add a little extra holiday/winter cheer to this French toast bake, the custard is flavored with pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice. In addition, fresh or frozen cranberries are strewn on top just before baking to add some sweet-tart juiciness to the mix. Served with a drizzle of maple syrup, this is the perfect way to make your winter mornings feel more warm and cozy – but without all the fuss!
Prep Time:
10 minutesCook Time:
55 minutesTotal Time:
1 hour, 5 minutes Yield:
6-8 servingsingredients:
instructions:
notes:
Adapted from Little Spice Jar.
About Joanne Bruno
Joanne Bruno is the blogger, recipe developer, and photographer behind the mostly ridiculous and always delicious vegetarian food blog Eats Well With Others. She likes her vegetables with a side of cupcakes and takes a highly hyperbolic approach to most things in life.
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Comments
Looks delicious! If I made this ahead of time, refrigerated overnight, then froze it to have ready Christmas morning — do you think that would end up with a weird texture or a very soggy dish?
Hi Pre! I’m not sure how well the milk/egg mixture will stand up to freezing/thawing before it’s cooking. I think you’re probably better off cooking it, letting it cool, freezing it, and then reheating it on Christmas morning.
Cranberries look so good. I love the idea of a tart punch of freshness in such a rich dish.
Neither my husband nor I are fans of pumpkin pie, but this recipe calls to me, I think because the cranberries would and a pleasant flavor jolt (for want of a better word). I definitely want to make this. Now I hope I can find Challah bread…
This recipe if really good. My entire family loved it. I made it for Thanksgiving weekend. I couldn’t find Challah bread so I used sourdough. The pumpkin flavor is not overwhelming. It sounds like a lot of vanilla for one recipe but it is the perfect amount.
Made this for breakfast today, and my husband and I both enjoyed it greatly (he is not an easy sell for the new things I try). My husband did complain that it didn’t LOOK like French toast, but when I asked him if that was more important than how it tastes, he had no answer… Anyway, this recipe is defnitely a keeper. The one issue I had with the recipe is that I can’t get challah bread here, so I was’t sure that the loaf if sheepherder’s bread that I bought was a similar size. My pan ended up very full of bread, though it did settle down eventually.