Raspberry Stuffed French Toast

I’m so excited to finally share this rasp­berry stuffed french toast with you all! It’s per­fect for a spe­cial break­fast (think Valentine’s day, Christ­mas morn­ing, Easter, when com­pany is over, etc) and the beauty is that it can be pre­pared ahead & frozen! So, the only work you have to do in the morn­ing is just pop it in the oven!

This is actu­ally a Dream Din­ners meal that I made & served for the first time last Christ­mas morn­ing. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to find the recipe any­where and hap­pily stum­bled upon some Dream Din­ners recipes shared in a Baby­Cen­ter Easter brunch post!

 Rasp­berry Stuffed French Toast

Ingre­di­ents:

• 1 to 2 loaves French bread (depend­ing on size)- cut into 16 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 C (1 stick) but­ter (softened)
• 8oz (1 pack­age) cream cheese (softened)
• 1 ½ C (about 1 jar) rasp­berry jam
• 4 C liq­uid eggs (or non­fat egg substitute)
• 3 C milk
• 1 C sugar
• 8 t ground cinnamon
• 3 C sliced almonds
• 1 C rolled oats
• 1/4 C flour
• 1 t vanilla

Direc­tions:

1. Spray one large bak­ing dish with non­stick cook­ing spray (mine was a dis­pos­able 1/2 steam table pan, but you can cer­tainly use a 9x13 or some­thing comparable)

2. Put down one layer of bread in the pan.

3. In a small bowl, com­bine but­ter, cream cheese, and rasp­berry jam.

4. Spoon the entire jam mix­ture evenly over each slice of bread. Top with remain­ing bread slices.

5. In a large bowl, com­bine eggs, milk, sugar, & half the cin­na­mon (4 t). The pour mix­ture over the bread slices evenly.

6. In another bowl, com­bine brown sugar, sliced almonds, oats, flour, rest of the cin­na­mon, and vanilla. Mix with you fin­gers until it resem­bles crumbs. Then, sprin­kle evenly over bread slices.

At this point, you have a few options. First up, you can cover and put in the freezer (for up to a few months)! I did that with the one I made last year (only it was only in the freezer a few weeks). If you do that, just let it thaw at room tem­per­a­ture before baking.

If you are going to want it within the next day or two, then, just go cover & refrig­er­ate. I made this one on Decem­ber 23rd & baked it Christ­mas morn­ing. So, it sat (uncooked) in the fridge for some­where between 36 & 48 hours before I baked it.

If you want to have it the same day, then just let every­thing soak together on the counter for 30 min­utes or so. That way the bread has a chance to soak up all the flavors!

When you’re ready to bake, set the oven to 325◦F and bake uncov­ered for about 1 hour. You’ll want the egg mix­ture to be cooked (no longer liq­uid) and the crumb top­ping to start browning.

The out­come is deli­cious! I’m not a huge fan of “reg­u­lar” french toast, but this is so good! Plus, I love that it can be a freezer meal, per­fect for a fancy break­fast with no work that morning!

Enjoy!!!

Do you have any favorite “make ahead” breakfasts?

*Linked to: *SNAP!, *Home Sto­ries A to Z

For more great break­fast ideas, come join #Dairy­Break­fast­Club recipe party at Tidy­Mom along with The Cal­i­for­nia Milk Advi­sory Board and RealCaliforniaMilk.com