This amazing Baked Creme Brulee French Toast makes your weekend mornings so much easier! Prep it the night before, wake up and stick it in your oven, and a deliciously sweet breakfast is ready in 30 minutes.
Weekends should be relaxing and a time to rejuvenate from a busy week of baseball practice, homework, piano lessons, etc. Keyword, “Should be”, am I right? And this, my friends, is where this amazingly easy Baked Creme Brulee French Toast for breakfast (or brunch, or heck, even dessert!) recipe comes into play.
Prep everything the night before, so when you wake up in the morning, all you do is stick this into the oven. That’s it! It’s perfect for Thanksgiving morning, Christmas morning, or family getaways. I actually made this for a family trip to the beach a few years back. I prepped everything at home using a foil dish and placed it in a cooler to keep cool on our drive. Everyone raved about the smell while it was baking the next morning. However, the best compliment came when everyone grabbed a slice and sat down. Silence. Just chewing. And an occasional, “Mmmm”! There were no leftovers, which was the other greatest compliment! Everyone enjoyed this Baked Creme Brulee French Toast so much, they even got seconds.
The key to this Baked Creme Brulee French Toast is old french bread. I always know when I buy some french bread, i’m going to be using half of it for homemade Cheesy Bread and the rest for this recipe.
If you don’t have day/s old french bread, you could help out the drying process by slicing your french bread and standing them up on their sides for several hours!
After you’ve made your sauce and poured it into the bottom of a baking dish, I like to dunk my sliced french bread into the egg/milk mixture. This ensures that both sides are wet. Even though you’ll be pouring the entire egg/milk mixture over top, this is a step I don’t skip.
Do I have to use Orange Liqueur in my Creme Brulee French Toast?
You absolutely do not have to use orange liqueur if you don’t want too! You’re certainly welcome to substitute for orange extract or even orange juice extract! You don’t taste the liqueur whatsoever but it does give the dish a taste that makes you go, “Wow, what is that?!”
Why do I have to flip the french bread halfway? Couldn’t I just keep it in the oven the entire time without having to ‘babysit’ it?
You absolutely could keep it in the oven as is the entire time! However, I highly recommend flipping the french bread slices at the halfway mark of the baking process. The reason being, you don’t want a soggy ‘bottom’ and a super toasted ‘top’. It doesn’t have a good ‘mouth feel’. Flipping halfway ensures the egg/milk mixture is completely baked. Plus, the ‘creme brulee’ sauce will now be on both sides of the bread, allowing you to broil the top! Ahhhh so, so yummy!
Do I have to broil the top?
Once it’s done baking, I turn my oven to ‘High Broil’ and broil the French Toast for 2-5 minutes. You don’t have to do this. I know the smells coming from your oven is torture and you can’t wait another 5 minutes to eat it, but trust me! The broiling gives it such a nice, crispy texture when you bite into it. But you absolutely have to watch it! My oven can be a bit finicky, so sometimes 5 minutes isn’t enough and other times 2 minutes is too much! Hence my photo down below lol! This was broiled at 3 minutes, so keep an eye on it.
Let your french toast rest for a few minutes before serving. Serve with your favorite toppings! It’s sweet enough that you don’t need maple syrup, buuuuutttt, I personally enjoy just a small drizzle over top with some fresh berries. And to make this even more succulent, add some chocolate chips to your serving!
I truly hope you enjoy this recipe like my family does. If you try it, please leave me a comment! I’d love to hear from you!
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Baked Creme Brulee French Toast
Ingredients
- 8 (1 to 1 1/2 inch slices) old french bread
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp light corn syrup
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup half and half or heavy cream
- 2 tbsp orange liqueur (I like Cointreau)*
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Using day old french bread (or even up to a few days old), cut bread into 8 slices, into 1 inch slices.
- In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter. Add in brown sugar and light corn syrup, whisking until brown sugar is completely dissolved. Pour into bottom of greased 13X9 baking dish.
- In a pie pan (or other shallow bowl), whisk together eggs, whole milk, cream, orange liqueur, vanilla, and salt.
- Take one slice of bread and dip into the egg/milk mixture, then flip bread. Transfer to the baking dish. Continue with remaining 7 slices of bread.
- Once all bread is in the baking dish, take the remaining egg/milk mixture and pour evenly across the french bread in baking dish. Sprinkle the tops of bread with ground cinnamon.
- Cover and chill overnight.
- The next morning, remove the baking dish from the fridge and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake uncovered for 15 minutes, then flip the bread and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes.
- Serve warm with maple syrup and fresh fruit
Optional but highly recommended
- Once done baking, turn the broiler on high and broil for about 2-5 minutes, but watch it to ensure it doesn't burn.
Notes
- You do not have to use orange liqueur if you don’t want to! You can substitute orange liqueur with orange extract or even orange juice concentrate!
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