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 350º 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!