Weekends are precious!
It took many years of working retail to fully appreciate having two days off. Even better, the same two days in a row – every single week! It’s almost like a mini vacation!
Another great thing about weekends? Breakfast! Especially now that the kids are grown, a family breakfast makes the weekend perfect. It’s not mandatory for the kids to wake up and eat with us. Especially if they don’t live here! Breakfast with the parents is a choice. That makes breakfast, and weekends together, much sweeter.
So what do I serve my all-adult family for breakfast on the weekend? Baked French Toast Casserole with an apple and blueberry topping!
One of the best things about this recipe, is you make it the night before! Less fuss in the morning means more time together talking. I like Texas Toast, because I love the thick slices, but you use a loaf of french bread too. Generously butter a 13×9 pan. Whisk together the eggs, milk, half-and-half with the sugar and seasonings. Pour everything over the bread, pop it in the fridge and forget it until morning.
When you get up the next day, make yourself a great pot of coffee! (First things first!) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare the topping for the french toast.
I use a combination of apples and blueberries, but feel free to get creative! I think peaches would be great in this. When we first made this dish, we used pecans instead of fruit for a praline type topping, but I like the crispy crunch of the apples. Plus adding fruit, let’s me pretend it’s a little bit healthy.
Once you’ve spread the topping over the bread, bake for 40 minutes, until it’s puffy and golden brown.
Serve with maple syrup and powdered sugar for a decadent breakfast casserole!
I hope you cherish every opportunity to sit around the breakfast table and share a meal with your children. Time goes by so quickly! Maybe this recipe will make those moments even sweeter.
Baked Apple Blueberry French Toast
Ingredients
10 slices of Texas Toast
8 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1 1/2 cups milk
2 TBLs granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Fruit Topping
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 TBLS light corn syrup
1/2 cup each diced apples and fresh blueberries (1 cup total)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Instructions
Generously butter a 9×13 baking dish.
Arrange Texas Toast in two rows, stacking the slices on top of each other to form two layers.
In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Whisk together until everything is well blended and just a bit bubbly.
Pour all the egg mixture over the bread slices.
Make sure you get some of the egg mix between the layers of bread too.
Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Take the casserole out of the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter while you prepare the fruit topping.
In a medium bowl, combine all the topping ingredients. Mix carefully so the blueberries don’t burst.
Carefully spread the fruit topping over the entire casserole.
Bake for 40 minutes, until light brown and puffy!
Serve with maple syrup and powdered sugar.
Notes
Plan ahead for this, it does need to sit for at least 8 hours before baking. You can swap the apples and berries for another fruit of your choice or even do a combination of fruit and nuts (Pecans would be amazing!) as long as the total fruit or nut mixture equals 1 cup, feel free to create your own family favorite topping.
Enjoy my Foodie Friends!
