Good Morning! Well, at least with this lovely breakfast goodie, it will be!! This recipe is courtesy of Paula Dean and it's WONDERFUL. It's warm gooey french toast toast with almost a candied pecan topping. It reminds me a little of the candied nuts that the malls have around the holidays, or a really good caramel sticky bun, I haven't quite decided yet. In either case, you can't go wrong.
This recipe is great breakfast treat. If you are serving pasta and have left over french bread, make this for the next morning. I promise you won't regret it. I made this when I had my family in for the weekend. I picked up an extra loaf to go with a pasta dish for lunch the next day. I was glad I tried this recipe. It was easy to assemble and my father, went back for seconds and paid his compliments to the chef . (Thanks Mrs. Dean! )
I'm going to tinker around and try a pumpkin version and also a caramel apple version with rolled oats. Stay tuned!
Let's get started. Here's a run down of the ingredients and method:
1 loaf of French bread
8 Large Eggs
2 Cups half and half (Second time I made this I was short a cup, and substituted with whole milk)
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash salt (I always omit salt from recipes because I use salted butter)
Maple Syrup
Praline Topping:
1/2 pound 2 sticks of butter, room temperature (I cut back and used only 1 stick of butter the second time)
1 Cup packed light brown sugar
1 Cup chopped Pecans ( I was generous and did a 1 1/2 cup, you gotta go big or go home )
2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Take a 9x13 pan and generously grease with room temperature butter.
Tear approximately 3/4 of the loaf into large pieces and add to buttered pan.
Mix eggs, half and half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg with mixer until blended, but not frothy.
Pour over bread and cover with foil or plastic wrap overnight in the refrigerator.
The next morning:
Stir up the bread to redistribute any liquid that was not absorbed. I took the spoon afterwards and lightly pressed the bread back down. Mix praline topping together with a fork or hand held mixer. (A wire whisk doesn't work as well). Take a spatula and place several dollops of the topping over the casserole. Bake uncovered for 40 minutes.
In the meantime, start some coffee and sausages and enjoy!