Saturday, August 27, 2016

Overnight French Toast Croissant Casserole


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This breakfast casserole was awesome.  There are 2 things I really like about this casserole, 1 it was an overnight casserole and 2 the heavenly crunchy cinnamon topping!


It saves so much time having a breakfast casserole that is mixed together the night before and then baked in the morning and this casserole did not disappoint!


The crunchy cinnamon topping reminded me of a coffee cake and the egg custard croissant base reminded me of a favorite dessert of mine.... bread pudding.  I love anything baked in an egg custard! The casserole was a recipe that I adapted from Pioneer Woman.  In her casserole she uses french bread.  I had left over croissants from lunch this week but feel free to use any left over bread you may have on hand.

In the picture above you can see the cinnamon topping I put over the casserole and it was the same topping you would put on top of coffee cake.


Overnight French Toast Croissant Casserole

French Toast:
8 cups croissants, torn into pieces
8 whole
 Eggs
2 cups Milk
1/2 cup Whipping Cream
3/4 cups Sugar
2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract

Topping:
1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
1/2 cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 /8 teaspoon Nutmeg 
1 stick Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces

Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Tear croissants into chunks and evenly distribute in the pan.

In a medium sized bowl mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Pour evenly over the croissants. Cover tightly and store in the fridge for several hours or overnight.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add butter pieces and cut them into the dry mixture until mixture resembles fine pebbles. Store in a Ziploc in the fridge.

When you're ready to bake the casserole, preheat oven to 350 F. Remove casserole from the fridge and sprinkle crumb mixture over the top. Bake for 45 minutes for a softer, more bread pudding texture. Bake 1 hour or more for a firmer, less liquid texture. 

I baked mine for 50 minutes but next time I am going to bake for 1 hour for a more crispy casserole.

Scoop out individual portions. Top with butter and drizzle with maple syrup.

recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Baked French Toast