on Apr 10th, 2007Make-ahead French toast
One of my greatest pleasures in life is a lazy Sunday. No alarm, the Sunday talk shows and lots of hot coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice with an armload of newspapers. Ideally, a leisurely breakfast is part of the equation but sometimes I (or we) don’t get around to it until it’s so late it makes more sense just to jump into lunch.
When I’m thinking ahead, I assemble this French toast on Saturday night, with bread left over from Friday, and bake it off Sunday morning. Although the recipe calls for baguettes, challah is fine too. I prefer it, actually. I make challah just a few times a year, but I assume nearly all supermarket bakeries, not just in the Big Apple, sell challah on Fridays; it’s certainly sold here in the Little Snowball, where diversity is almost just a word in the dictionary.
The recipe is from the Hannaford supermarket chain, my favorite in New England. This recipe is not on their website, but many others are.
Brown Sugar Baked French Toast
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 TB maple syrup *
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 baguette, cut into 3/4 inch slices
garnish: fresh fruit salad
* I use Grade B for its deeper flavor. Grade A, obviously, is fine. Any real maple syrup works.
Melt brown sugar, butter and maple syrup in medium skillet over medium-low heat. Pour mixture into 9×13 inch baking dish.
In a large bowl whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla extract. Arrange bread slices over brown sugar mixture in baking dish. Pour egg mixture over bread, pressing down on bread to absorb egg. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover baking dish, bake 30 minutes or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean. Serve with fruit salad.
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