Challah French Toast Casserole

Goes Fast — Make Plenty!

Ingredients

• 1 loaf challah – remove from bag – tear into pieces (about 1 ½” in size) and place pieces back in bag.
• 10 eggs
• 1 ½ cups milk (whole, 2% or half and half ) Note: you may need 2 cups of milk if you are using a large Challah or run short on liquids.
• ½ - ¾ cup brown sugar (½ cup for a little less sweet, ¾ cup for a little more sweet)
• 1- 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 1/2 stick of butter
• Dash of salt (optional)
• 1 ½ pints fresh blueberries (optional) (approx. 3 cups)
• 9” x 11” baking dish or disposable aluminum pan.

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F

Place butter in 9” x 11” baking dish and place baking dish in hot oven to melt the butter.

Remove baking pan from oven once butter is melted and let cool for 1 minute. Take a paper towel and spread butter over the bottom and sides of the pan and pour the excess melted butter in to a mixing bowl.

In the mixing bowl with (cooled) butter, mix together eggs, milk, brown sugar, vanilla and salt.

Add Challah to egg mixture and let rest for 5-10 minutes (stirring a few times so all the bread gets covered).

Bread should be soggy and soaked through with egg mixture. (if you feel you are short on liquid, add an additional ¼ to ½ cup of milk to challah and mix in).

Add egg soaked Challah to baking pan.

If using fruit, sprinkle the fruit randomly over the challah and mix in.

If you feel like you have a lot of liquid after letting rest for 5-10 minutes you can pour a little off. (it is fine if there is some resting in the bottom of the pan)

Cover baking pan with foil and bake 45-50 minutes until eggs are set—check to see if set by inserting a clean knife in to the center of the casserole—knife should come out clean.

Remove foil and bake uncovered for 10 minutes to crisp the top.

When the casserole is done, cool for five minutes and cut in to squares

Optional Chef Suggestions:

Sprinkle top with confectioner's sugar

Serve with warm maple syrup on the side.

Serve with fruit preserve’s on the side

Serve with yogurt or sour cream and fruit preserves on the side (see how to make below)

Optional sides recipes:

Take ¼ to ½ cup of yogurt or sour cream and place in a bowl. Mix in several tablespoons of your favorite preserves, stir and taste. Adjust final consistency and flavor to your liking by adding more preserves, yogurt or sour cream.

Chef Notes:

Try to use fresh berries whenever possible. Frozen berries sometimes have too much liquid due to the freezing process. If using frozen berries, thaw and rinse first before adding to the recipe.

This recipe is the culmination of trial and error and I am always adjusting it depending on my mood. Feel free to play with the recipe and adjust to your liking. More or less sugar, skim milk for whole milk, apples or peaches instead of berries. How about raisins or cranberries. Try leaving out the sugar and berries and add a couple cups of grated cheddar cheese.