* Image provided by The Food Network I hate mornings. I always have. I am a girl that loves her sleep. Being that I have two boys that are five and six, I have experienced many early mornings. Luckily I married a guy who is also an early bird so most of the time I am able to get a little bit of extra shut-eye in here and there.
The hating mornings aside, I do love a piping hot breakfast which is why I adore Paula Deen's breakfast casserole recipe. I mean adore it. Not only is it prepared the night before so I don't have to worry about getting up and making three hungry guys a warm breakfast, but it is decadent. Of course it comes with lots of butter, sugar and fat which is a prerequisite in all Paula Deen recipes, so while you may not be able to make this all the time, on the occasional Sunday or holiday, it is definitely worth it.
A couple of things to note, I deviated from the recipe on the Food Network site to adjust it to my own tastes and textures. I cut down the eggs by two and cut down the half-and-half listed to only one cup instead of two. By doing this the casserole is less "soupy" and lighter & fluffier. I also modified the Praline topping a bit, using less nuts. Some may think I am crazy, but again, this is just to my tastes. For Paula's Exact Frenct Toast Casserole recipe, just click on this link. Yes, the image I used is from the Food Network site because no matter what I do my casserole never looks quite as pretty as Paula's, but trust me, it is fabulous!
French Toast Casserole
French Toast Ingredients
1 loaf French bread (13 to 16 ounces) OR 3/4 of the loaf of Texas Toast
6 large eggs
1 cup half-and-half
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash salt
Directions
Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch each. (Use any extra bread for garlic toast or bread crumbs). Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and make the Praline Topping.
Praline Topping Ingredients
2 sticks butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well.
Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.
5 comments:
I LOVE this recipe! I have made it several times. And I'm with you...mine never turns out as pretty! What I have done the last few times is "chunk" the bread like you would for a bread pudding, and then bake it in individual loaf pans (mine is like a muffin pan, but has 8 mini-loaves so I fill two pans). It turns out perfect every time!! I also cut down on the butter for the topping. YUMMY!
I love the tip about chunking the bread up! I am going to try that next time. I agree as well but the butter could be cut down and probably should. :)
This is very similar to that good old British standard, bread and butter pudding. There are many variations on this dish nowadays, but one of the best I've ever eaten was made with pain au chocolat as the base, instead of bread. It was so good, it brought tears to my eyes.
This sounds absolutely delicious! With it being a Paula Deen recipe, I have a feeling it's nothing short of addicting :)
OOOOOOOOOO LOOKS FABULOUS !
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