French Toast Casserole

Recipe By: Laura Sorkin

This recipe for French Toast Casserole is meant to take a classic that usually serves one at a time and turns it into a meal that serves a crowd. While French toast is made by dipping slices of bread into custard batter and frying them up, this version puts the whole shebang - torn pieces of bread and all the custard -  into one dish and baking it. To give it a little extra crunch, we added a nut crumble on top. Bakers may look at this recipe and ask, “Wait, isn’t this just a bread pudding?” Yes, it is. But calling it a French toast casserole takes a dessert and makes it entirely acceptable for breakfast. 

This dish would be excellent with our Cinnamon+Vanilla Infused Maple, which everyone says tastes like "French Toast on a spoon", or with our delightfully boozy WhistlePig Barrel-Aged Maple.

 

French Toast Casserole

Servings

8 - 10 people

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

30 minutes

Ingredients

4 Tbsp butter, at room temperature, plus more for the baking dish

1 (1-pound) loaf unsliced sourdough or French bread (not baguette)

8 large eggs

3 cups half-and-half

1/4 cup Sugarmaker’s Cut pure maple syrup (or other Runamok maple)

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar, divided

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp kosher salt, divided

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, divided

2 ounces chopped pecans, almonds, or hazelnuts 

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Maple syrup

Instructions

Grease a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish with butter.

Tear the bread into pieces and put into the baking dish.

Wisk the eggs, half and half, ¼ cup maple syrup, ¼ cup brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add ¾ tsp salt. Pour the batter over the bread pieces then gently press down on them with a spatula so they are saturated with the liquid. Cover the dish and let it sit for an hour on the counter or overnight in the fridge. (If you refrigerate it, let it sit at room temperature for an hour to take the chill off before baking.)

Preheat the oven to 350°F

In a small bowl, mix together the nuts, flour, remaining ¼ cup of brown sugar, a pinch of nutmeg and ½ tsp salt. Add the room-temperature butter and blend with a fork or your hands until the mixture is crumbly. Pour the mixture over the bread and spread evenly.

Place the casserole in the oven and bake for 30 - 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the center is fully cooked.

Remove from the oven and serve warm or room temperature with any Runamok Maple Syrup

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