Overnight Baked French Toast

- Amanda

Happy fall everyone! Today is the first official day of Autumn and I can’t think of a better way to start the day than with this warm and cozy Overnight Baked French Toast. Well, except maybe unless it’s accompanied by a Pumpkin Spice Latte.

This Overnight Baked French Toast has all the right spiced and delicious notes you need to start the season off on the right foot, or bite, should I say. And instead of having to stand over the stove cooking the individual slices of bread, this all gets put together the night before, then just gets a few simple additions in the morning with a little cinnamon sugar and pecans sprinkled on top. Then into the oven it goes.

Whether it be for a busy weekday morning getting the troops off to school, yourself to work, or a lazy weekend when you’d rather start the day slowly not doing much of anything, this is a perfect choice. In fact, you’ll be excited to wake up in the morning to this treat and the scent it brings as it bakes is exactly what every fall morning should smell like.

I have it pictured here sliced up in thick slices. It is quite beautiful this way and resembles traditional French toast for sure. But you can also choose to cube the bread up, which I have also done with just as fabulous results. If done that way, it does tend to take on a bit more of a bread pudding look. But who says that’s a bad thing? I’ve used whole wheat bread as well as a rustic white. Both tasted wonderful and it really is just a personal preference. One thing I will say though, is don’t skip the pecans. If availability is an issue, walnuts or even sliced almonds can definitely be used but the little crunchy morsels of toasted cinnamon sugar pecans were my favorite part. And the cinnamon sugar of course creates an irresistible sweet and crispy crust over the bread.

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Overnight Baked French Toast

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Resting Time 8 hours
Servings 6

Ingredients

  • 1 lb bread, sliced
  • 2 tbsps butter, softened
  • 7 lg eggs
  • 2 1/2 cups milk
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tsps ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup raisins

For the topping:

  • 3 tbsps chopped pecans
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Butter a 9×13" baking dish. Then use the rest of the 2 tablespoons of butter to butter the front sides of the bread slices and layer the bread upright in the dish so it will all fit and they are evenly dispersed. Then place the raisins in between the slices of bread so that none are on top. (They will burn if on top of the bread.)

  2. In a bowl or measuring cup, whisk the eggs, milk, cream, brown sugar, cinnamon , nutmeg, salt and vanilla until combined. Then pour the egg mixture over the bread and press the bread down gently so it all gets immersed in the liquid. Then cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight or at least 6 hours. (Placing a heavy plate or something else on top of the dish while refrigerating will help the bread absorb the liquid better if necessary.)

  3. In the morning, preheat the oven to 350F/ 175C. While the oven preheats, remove the baking dish from the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap. Sprinkle the chopped pecans evenly on top.

  4. In a small bowl, combine the 1 tablespoon brown sugar with the 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and then sprinkle over the bread slices and pecans. Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 40-45 minutes until golden brown on top and set in the center. (Halfway through baking, check to see if the top is browning too much. If it is, loosely cover the top with foil, then continue baking.)

Recipe Notes

*Recipe adapted from the New York Times.