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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole


So this little tasty morsel of a dish came about quite by accident. I had been craving my french toast casserole in a major way and knew I needed to make it, like.....as soon as possible. But that takes a little bit of planning because it works better if the bread is a dry or even left out over night. Yeah, I feel like I just don't have the patients time lately to let delicious bread sit around and get dry. I mean, hello, I barely even have time to blog. I needed to adjust my recipe and fast because if you've learned anything about me it is that I don't like to wait for my carb-loaded dishes.

Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole

The second reason I changed up my regular recipe is because Hunter Hann was makin' his chili {insert chorus of Hallelujah}, and growing up as a kid, whenever he had chili at school they would serve it with cinnamon rolls. Now, I still can't figure out if I think that's super weird, or if I'm freakin' jealous, but either way it must be a western Kansas thing. Plus, his sister was coming over to hang out and so I knew she would appreciate my attempts at making this casserole take on a cinnamon roll characteristic.

Bla, bla, bla. Let's get to the good stuff! This has an excellent brown sugar-pecan praline topping, and if that wasn't enough, it also has a traditional cinnamon roll glaze to drizzle over it. 

Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole
      serves 6-8
18 oz loaf cinnamon raisin bread, cut into 1 1/2 in cubes
1 1/4 C almond milk {I use unsweetened, vanilla}
4 large eggs
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Praline topping:
2-3 T light butter, softened {not melted}
1/3 C brown sugar
1 T 100% maple syrup
1/2 C chopped pecans
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Glaze
1/2 C powdered sugar
1 T almond milk {I use unsweetened, vanilla}
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350ยบ and spray 9x13 dish with non-stick baking spray. Mix the milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Pour the chopped bread with the egg mixture and coat each piece evenly. Dump coated bread into the baking dish. {At this point, IF you aren't going to bake it immediately, cover and refrigerate dish until ready to bake}. 
In a small bowl, mash brown sugar into softened butter with a fork. Add maple syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in pecans. Spread praline topping over casserole {this is easy to do with your fingers}. 
Bake, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes.

While the dish is baking, make the cinnamon roll glaze by combining powdered sugar, milk and vanilla in a small bowl. Drizzle glaze over casserole dish. 

This would also be good served with warm maple syrup! But I didn't think it needed it. 

Sometimes when life gets crazy and you don't have time to blog, you just need a bit bowl of chili and three pieces a big piece of cinnamon roll french toast. I know. You don't feel sorry for me one little bit. And that's ok. Because there are more important things in life that making sure I get to blog every recipe that I make. Like hanging out with this little pumpkin. 




Now THAT'S the good stuff!

7 comments:

  1. YOUR BABY LOOKS LIKE THE BABY THAT'S FLOATING AROUND THE INTERNET WITH IT'S MOM SINGING TO HER. THE BABY GETS EMOTIONAL AND TEARS UP WHILE THE MOM SINGS. SO SWEET.[JUST A GRANNY]

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    1. I totally saw that video the day you posted this comment! How sweet was that? I don't know if it was my mommy hormones or what, but watching that video totally made me tear up! What a little sweet heart! :) Stuff like that gets me good!

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  2. The recipe is delicious, and your baby is adorable!

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    1. Thank you so much!! Give it a try if you get a chance. And right? We think she's pretty dang cute! :)

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  3. Baby kisses are sweet! Can't wait to try this recipe on our crew.

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  4. Would you recommend allowing the bread to soak up the liquid overnight?

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