Baked Pumpkin French Toast

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After making this recipe, I'm now totally on board with making french toast the night before.  Not only do you save yourself time in the morning (which is helpful when you have guests over and a baby to look after), but it also tastes great.

This french toast recipes comes from Two Peas and their Pod.  It is almost like a hybrid between french toast and bread pudding.  R's mom helped me out with preparing this recipe since Ms. E was having a meltdown while I was trying to put the dish together.   

Baked Pumpkin French Toast

1 loaf French Bread (I used a challah)
6 large eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

1. Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Tear French bread into chunks, or cut into cubes, and evenly place in the pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together eggs, milk, pumpkin puree, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour evenly over bread. Cover pan with saran wrap and store in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add butter pieces and cut into the dry mixture using a fork or your hands. Combine until the mixture resembles sand with a few pea sized chunks. Cover and store mixture in the refrigerator.

4. When you’re ready to bake the French toast, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove French toast from refrigerator and sprinkle crumb mixture over the top. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the French toast is set and golden brown.

5. Serve warm with syrup, if desired.

 

Verdict: Tasted delicious and smelled amazing too!  In the future, I may try adapting the streusal recipe to include oatmeal.  I didn't find it had much of a crumble coating effect.