Recipe: Pecan Praline French Toast Casserole

For the past 9 years or so... since my sister had her first baby... we have gathered at her house on Christmas Morning to open presents and enjoy a very delicious brunch! The menu has varied over the years, but we've settled on a casserole that we just can't pass up!

I'm not sure how Christmas will turn out this year, since I'll be 8 months pregnant... and you just never know about the crazy winter weather in PA. (I don't imagine Cory will want to travel almost an hour on crappy roads with his pregnant wife... we almost didn't make it out last year because the roads were so bad!). However, I have snagged the recipe for the beloved French Toast Casserole... so we can have it WHENEVER we want! And it is SO good!

Guess what we had for dinner last night? :)

You know you want some of this!

I didn't take a bunch of pictures of the process of throwing this together... it's pretty easy... so HERE YA GO:

Ingredients
1 loaf french bread (*this works best because it makes smaller pieces, however you can use whatever bread you want and make it fit in the dish)
8 large eggs
2 c. half & half
1 c. milk
2 T. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
dash of salt

*Slice bread into twenty 1" slices. Arrange slices in 2 rows in a generously buttered 9x13 pan, overlapping slices and making sure gaps are filled in. (I sprayed the dish with PAM instead of using butter and it worked just fine!)

*In a large bowl, combine eggs, cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Beat with whisk until well blended. Pour mixture over bread slices, making sure all are covered equally by the mixture and spooning mixture in between the slices.

*Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. (I made mine in the AM and stuck it in the fridge until I was ready to pop it in the oven for dinner!)

The Next Morning (or later in the day)...

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

*Prepare Praline Topping(below) and spread topping as evenly as possible over bread.

*Bake 40 minutes until puffy and golden. (The topping should be crusty, not gooey.)

*Serve with syrup!


Praline Topping:
1/2 lb (2 sticks) butter
1 c. light brown sugar, packed
1 c. chopped pecans
2 T. light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

*Combine ingredients and mix until butter is crumbly, then spread evenly over bread.

Note: The inside of the casserole will be a bit "egg-y"... but if you get just the right mix of it with the crusty praline topping... it is delicious! Also, I halfed the whole recipe and put it in a smaller dish since it's just the two of us! It was perfect!

ENJOY!!!