French toast you can make the night before and pop into your oven the next morning for a hands-off breakfast treat! It’s special enough for the holidays but easy enough to make anytime.
The recipe starts with a pecan praline sauce that’s kind of hard to forget. You make it by melting butter, brown sugar and maple syrup together and pouring it into the bottom of a baking pan. The sticky sauce is topped with pecans and slices of French or Italian bread, preferably a little on the stale side.
What starts out as the bottom ends up being the top when served. Like upside down french toast.
It’s all smothered in a custard made of eggs, milk or half & half and vanilla. As it chills out in the fridge all night the stale bread soaks up all that rich custard making it fluffy and creamy.
Before it’s baked a cinnamon sugar topping gets sprinkled on. It’s your choice of brown or white sugar and lots of cinnamon. I went for the white blend.
I know this sounds like a dessert but it’s more suited to breakfast or brunch. It isn’t “too” sweet, at least we found it to be just right on the sweetness scale, exactly what we’d expect from french toast. You don’t need any syrup, although a dollop of whipped cream would go over nicely.
I can’t wait for the holidays!
I’ve got breakfast covered. . .
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OVERNIGHT PECAN PRALINE FRENCH TOAST
Ingredients
- Sauce:
- 1/2 cup butter plus more for greasing the pan
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/2 cup rough-chopped pecans
- French or Italian bread sliced 1/2-inch thick (1/2 to 3/4 of a loaf)
- Custard:
- 1 + 1/2 cups milk or half & half
- 5 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Topping:
- 1/4 cup packed brown or white sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Generousy grease a 9 x 13 (or similar size) non-stick baking pan.
Make the glaze:
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and stir in the brown sugar and syrup. Turn the heat up to medium-high and bring it to a simmer, cook, stirring until the sugar is melted. Pour it into the prepared pan.
- Sprinkle with the pecans and top with the bread. Lay it down from edge to edge touching each other.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and salt. Pour it over the bread.
- Cover the pan with foil and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.
To cook:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a small bowl stir the topping together. Sprinkle evenly over the tops of the bread.
- Bake 40 - 45 minutes until bubbly and golden. Let set 5 minutes before serving.
- To serve turn the slices over onto the plate so the bottom becomes the top.
Nutrition