Baked Pumpkin French Toast

Hello there– I have to tell you that this is one of those dishes that tastes way better than it looks!!  It’s sort of a homely little mess sitting on the plate. Looking at the photos, I thought I should just scrap this post, but then it was so yummy, I just wanted to give you to be able to give it a try!!  Please trust me on this one.

The toasty bread coated with custardy pumpkin is pretty delicious, especially hot from the oven.  With maple syrup, perfect!

BAKED PUMPKIN FRENCH TOAST
1 pound loaf French bread
6 eggs
2 cups cream or half & half
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon)

Crumb Topping:
1/2 cu brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup pecans (or more if you love pecans as much as I do!)

Garnish:  lots of maple syrup!

Cut the loaf of bread into bit sized chunks.  Put it into a 9″x13″ baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until they are blended.  Then stir in the cream, sugar, pumpkin, salt, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice.  Pour the mixture over the bread.

Cover the whole thing with foil and set it into the fridge overnight.  The next morning, take it out of the fridge an hour before you want to put it into the oven, to warm a bit.

While that is sitting, make the Crumb topping by mixing together the brown sugar, flour, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Then cut in the butter with a pastry blender (or 2 forks) until the mixture is crumbly.  Stir in the pecans and sprinkle it over the pumpkin French toast just before you pop it into the oven.

Bake the French toast for the first 30 minutes still covered with the foil at 350 degrees.  Then remove the foil and bake for 20 or 30 minutes more until the top is golden and the pumpkin filling is all set.

Serve it up hot from the oven with along with a jug of maple syrup!  I think you’ll love it!

Advertisement

Orange Maple French Toast

Good morning all!!  Growing up my Dad had one specialty meal– his Sunday morning French toast.  He’d put on his Sunday morning music and cook away while Mom got 4 kids ready for church.

So here’s a recipe that’s so simple , it’s more of a tip than a recipe!  But it really kicks up the flavor or your Sunday morning French toast!  I think you’ll like it!

ORANGE MAPLE FRENCH TOAST
1 loaf French bread
3 eggs
1/2 cup whole milk (or half & half)
3 tab. grated orange peel (about 1 orange)
1/4 cup maple syrup

Slice the French bread into 1 inch slices.  Set aside.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, grated orange peel and maple syrup.

Heat the griddle to medium heat and spray with cooking spray (or use butter if you’re feeling indulgent!).  Dip both sides of each bread slice in the egg mixture and cook just about a minute on each side.

Store the cooked slices in a low oven until they are all cooked.  Serve with butter and more maple syrup!!  Delicious!

Pumpkin French Toast

Hello everyone– When the kids are home for a visit, my favorite part of the day is breakfast.  Larry starts the coffee and I buzz around the kitchen while people with pj’s and bed hair wander in one at a time.  They squeeze around the small kitchen table and I flip pancakes or pour juice.  It’s the best– talking over the day ahead, easy times together.

So while kids were here last weekend, we sat down to this pumpkin French toast.  Custardy and pumpkin spiced with candied pecans to top it off.  I think you’d love it too!

PUMPKIN FRENCH TOAST
1 loaf soft French bread*
4 eggs
1 cup mik
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
garnish:  1 cup pecans, 1/2 cup sugar

Slice the loaf into thick slices.

In a 9″ baking dish, beat the eggs and then beat in the milk, pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.  Keep mixing til it’s all blended.

Dip both sides of the bread into the pumpkin mixture and set it on a medium hot griddle that has been sprayed with cooking spray, about 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

Keep warm in a low oven until all the toast is cooked.

Garnish– to make the candied pecans put the 1 cup of pecans (whole or chopped and 1/3 cup sugar in a nonstick skillet.  Set it on a medium high burning and stir continuously until the sugar has melted and the pecans are coated with golden brown sugar syrup.  Turn the pecans out onto a piece of foil to cool, separating them with your wooden spoon on the foil.

*Use those spongy French bread loaves from the grocery bakery (not my favorite bread, but great for soaking up eggy French toast mixture).

Maple Pecan Baked French Toast

Hi there– Every single Sunday morning while we were growing up, my Dad would take to the kitchen and griddle up piles of French toast while my mom got 4 little kids ready for church. We loved those hot syrupy slices.  I can’t think of French toast without remembering my fun-loving father.

So here’s a new version of that old French toast– with maple in the custard and a maple glaze on top for sweetness, plus pecans for a little crunch.  The nice thing is that you can make it a little ahead in the morning — or put it together the night before and keep it over night in the fridge until your ready to bake it.

MAPLE PECAN BAKED FRENCH TOAST
1 baguette
5 eggs
3 cups milk (or half & half)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup pecans

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup

Slice the baguette into thin slices (about 1/2″ thick).  Arrange them in a 9″ x 13″ baking dish (I used a large round tart dish) that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs for a minute.  Then whisk in the milk, 1/2 cup maple syrup and salt.

Pour the egg mixture over the slices of bread in the baking dish.  Cover with foil, tenting it up so it doesn’t touch the bread and let it sit for an hour (or overnight) in the fridge.

Bake the covered bread for 20 minutes in a 375 degree oven.  Remove the foil and then sprinkle the pecans over the bread and bake for 20 minutes more.

While that’s baking, mix together the powdered sugar and 1/4 cup maple syrup.  Pour it over the hot French Toast as it comes out of the oven– serve it up hot and sweet!!

Fab French Toast

Hi breakfast friends–  Found this recipe in the Food & Wine Best of the Best year end cookbook.  It was labeled “Fabulous French Toast.”  And happily it lived up to it’s name!  It’s a little more work to start the night before– but if you have houseguests or friends coming in for breakfast, then half the work is done when you hit the kitchen in the morning.  I loved it’s sweet custardy texture.  You might want to give it a try…

FAB FRENCH TOAST
6 eggs
1/2 cup suar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups half & half
6 slices of sourdough bread, cut 1″ thick
butter for cooking & then for serving
maple syrup (of course)
berries, optional

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt.  Then add in the half & half and whisk it all together.  Place the bread in a single layer in a shallow baking dish and pour the egg mixture over the top.  Turn the bread over once to coat both sides.

Cover the dish with plastic wrap and pop it into the fridge overnight.

The next morning, heat your skillet and add in a bit of butter.  When it’s melted, cook the slices of soaked bread 2 to 3minutes on each side until they are nicely browned.  Then settle the bread slices on a cookie sheet sprayed lightly with cooking spray and put them in a 350 degree oven for about 8 minutes.

Arrange the french toast on plates and serve with mounds of butter and dribbles of good maple syrup.   Then dig in!

Baked Gingerbread Pecan French Toast

Good morning breakfast buddies– Loving this spicy version of French toast.  It’s the kind you make the night before and pop in the oven just before breakfast.  We had it for the first time on Christmas morning– along with the cranberry preserves and  lots of maple syrup–thanks to the Bigarels maple trees! (You’re the best Alfie!!)   So easy on a busy morning.

It’s hot from the oven and a little spicy and lot of sweet. I think you’d like it…

BAKED GINGERBREAD PECAN FRENCH TOAST
1 loaf French bread, sliced
1/4 cup melted butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
pinch of salt
1 cup pecans, chopped

Spread the pecans on a baking sheet and toast them at 325 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.  Keep your eye on them, because they can burn easily.

Whisk together the melted butter, milk, 1/2 cup maple syrup, ginger, cinnamon allspice and salt.  Dip the sliced bread in the egg mixture and  layer it in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.  Pour the  extra egg mixture over the top.  Cover the pan with foil and leave it overnight in fridge.

Take it out to warm up a bit while oven preheating. Then bake it, uncovered,  at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.  Top it with foil if it starts to get too browned.

Serve it up warm with ample maple syrup and the toasted pecans to your own breakfast buddies.  It’s good.

Banana French Toast with Caramelized Bananas

Hello there–  Oh bananas.  They’re the perfect ingredient.   From your first peanut butter & banana sandwich moving up to baking banana bread  and on to banana cream pie.  And have you made “Bananas Foster?”  They add their creamy sweetness to everything.  You gotta love ’em.  So here’s yet another recipe made even better by those old friends– bananas!

BANANA FRENCH TOAST
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk or half & half
1 large banana, smashed to a paste
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 loaf unsliced french bread*
maple syrup & chopped almonds to finish it off

Cut the bread into nice substantial slices.  Beat together the eggs, milk, banana, vanilla and brown sugar in a shallow bowl.  Dredge the bread slices in the egg mixture and brown both sides on a flat grill plan sprayed with cooking spray (or melted butter if you’re feeling luxurious).

CARAMELIZED BANANAS
4 tab. butter
4 tab. brown sugar
4 bananas, sliced into rounds

Heat the butter and brown sugar until it’s starting to bubble and all melty together.  Then add in the banana and stir until it’s thickened to nice gooey coated bananas.  Just needs to cook a couple minutes.  Spoon it over your french toast.  Add maple syrup and chopped almonds if you want a bit more sweetness and crunch.  Enjoy!

*I like sour dough loaf for french bread–has a nice tang to cut all the sweetness I pour on with that maple syrup.  Mmm.

Oatmeal Pecan French Toast

Hello there– My sis, Lulu had a plate of oatmeal pecan french toast when she breakfasted in a little coffee shop a couple weeks ago.  She said it was delish.  I thought– Hmmm, I think that should be pretty simple to cook up.  So this morning I experimented on Larry and Laurel and it turned out rather nicely.

OATMEAL PECAN FRENCH TOAST
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup oatmeal (quick oats variety)
1 cup pecans
8 thick slices of french bread*

Whisk the eggs, milk and vanilla together in a pan pan.  Then mix the oats and pecans in another pie pan.  Turn the griddle up to medium heat and coat it with cooking spray.  Dip both sides of each bread slice in the egg mixture and then coat them with oats & pecans.  Cook it on the griddle just a minute or two on each side until it’s nice and toasty.  Serve this yummy french toast up with jam, syrup or berries.  Happy Breakfast!!

*I just used the inexpensive grocery store puffy french bread.  It’s nice to buy it a day ahead and let it dry out a bit to be a little more sturdy.