Fare With A Flair: French toast casserole easy to prepare in advance

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Christmas morning is always a busy one in our household as we continue to tidy the house from the previous Eve’s annual gathering and get ready for another round of family visits for late morning, followed by a traditional holiday pasta lunch.

Preparing something for a breakfast or brunch can easily be done in advance and it has to be easy.

I love the overnight breakfast casseroles that can be assembled and kept in the fridge until morning. I’ve made numerous stratas and bread pudding-type dishes over the years.

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This year I’m switching it up with a rendition of French toast. Instead of fussing with individual portions, the recipe is treated as a bread pudding. I’ve added cranberries and a bit of orange zest to give this a festive touch.

And like many French toasts, it gets finished with a drizzle of maple syrup.

This is a very rich dish and should be accompanied by a light and colourful fruit salad.

Happy holidays.

Festive French Toast Casserole

(Serves 8-10)

8 cups of cubed stale bread (preferably Brioche)

1/2 cup (125 ml) dried cranberries

5 eggs

1-1/2 cups (375 ml) milk

2 tbsp. (25 ml) brown sugar

1 tsp. (5 ml) vanilla

1 tsp. (5 ml) cinnamon

1 tsp. (5 ml) orange zest

1/2 tsp. (2ml) salt

Maple syrup for serving

Topping:

2 tbsp. (25 ml) melted butter

1 tbsp. (15 ml) brown sugar

1/3 cup (75 ml) chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions:

1. Grease a 9 by 13 ovenproof casserole dish. (For easy clean up place a piece of parchment in the bottom).

2. Place bread cubes in dish.

3. Sprinkle with cranberries.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, orange zest and salt.

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5. Pour mixture over top of bread cubes.

6. Cover with plastic wrap press down gently to make sure all bread cubes are covered with egg mixture. Refrigerate overnight.

7. When ready to bake. Remove from refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap. Preheat oven to 350 F.

8. Drizzle casserole with melted butter. Sprinkle sugar and nuts evenly over top.

9. Tent with foil and bake for 40 minutes.

10. Uncover and bake a further 15 to 20 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Remove from  oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

11. Serve with maple syrup.

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