I love that you can make this Baked French Toast in advance. You can prepare and assemble everything the night before and simply stick it in the oven the next morning. This is a great way to enjoy a classic breakfast more easily. It has the same great flavors as the traditional French toast, but baked and served in a casserole form.
You’ll find ground mace listed in the ingredients list. For those of you who aren’t familiar with mace, it is the outer membrane around the nutmeg nut. It is pronounced in flavor and similar to nutmeg.
The praline topping really puts the “crown” on this Baked French Toast. The mixture of pecans, brown sugar, and butter come together creating a delicious crunchy topping that you wouldn’t want to go without. This is plenty sweet on it’s own, but you can always give it a good drizzle of maple syrup.
Make it easier for yourself and make this Baked French Toast the next time you have company coming. It’s great for Christmas morning too! The work will be done, the house will smell wonderful, and your guests will be impressed. And…since you will have nothing but time on your hands, you will be free to enjoy that time with your family and friends.
If you wake up one morning and wonder why on earth you didn’t make this the night before, so that you could have a delicious breakfast to just stick in the oven…don’t fret. You can still have it. You’re just going to have to work for it now. You’re going to need to go through all the motions of making it, then let it sit until the bread has absorbed all the liquid. Once the liquid is absorbed it’s ready to go into the oven. See – no reason to panic.
Baked French Toast
Ingredients
- 1 16 oz loaf of French bread
- 8 large eggs
- 2 cups half & half
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon mace (optional)
Praline Topping
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons Karo syrup
- 1 1/2 cup nuts
Instructions
- Cut bread into 1 inch slices. In a heavy buttered 13 x 9 inch baking dish, arrange the bread slices in two rows, overlapping the slices, if necessary.Crack eggs into a blender, or mixer. Add the remaining ingredients and blend, or mix, until ingredients are well incorporated. Pour mixture over bread slices. Cover and refrigerate overnight.Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes for a bread pudding-like texture, or for 1 hour (or more) for a firmer more dense texture. Shield the top with foil if topping starts to brown to quickly.
Disclaimer: Nutritional values (per serving) are approximates only and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
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