Stuffed French Toast Casserole with Fruit

Stuffed French Toast Casserole

Regardless of how many mouths I have to feed, there always seems to be a few pieces of left over bread discarded, with new loaves opened. Yes, no regards for finishing the last loaf. I never get that. Do the kids not see those last few pieces? Is there some magnet towards new loaves of bread?

By the end of the week, I  have five or six miscellaneous pieces, and since we are trying to cut down on our food waste, one of my many creations of French Toast are put to use.

Typically, when you hear Stuffed French Toast Casserole, especially with strawberries, one thinks of saving this recipe for only special occasions, but there’s really no need. It’s easy, fairly quick to assemble, and I use what ever fruit is in season or has been marked down in the produce aisle, or even canned fruit when you are in a pinch. Do know that this recipe works perfectly well without the fruit. Fruit just takes it from typical to terrific.

Since I always have a large group to feed for brunch type events, my French Toast Bake is one of my easy “go to” items, along with my hashbrown casserole,  Sausage Egg Cresent Roll Recipe and baking bacon in the oven.

We’ve talked here before about those recipes that we make without exact measurements and this is one of those. I’ve made this for so many years, that I just kind of dump, and add based on what I have on hand.

Ideally, you should take the time to remove all the crusts from the bread slices, and cut the bread into nice, petite one inch cubes, but when I cook for large group, my goal is to get it done quickly, while still being yummy, so often  make it with full slices (as shown in the above pictures).

Stuffed French Toast Casserole with Fruit

• 12 slices firm bread, remove crusts, cubed
• 8 ounces of cream cheese, cubed or softened (depending on your preference)
• 8  eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup of syrup
• 2 cups of milk (or mixture of half and half, cream and milk equaling two cups) If I have flavored coffee creamer on hand, like hazelnut, I have added some fun taste dimension with a bit of that.
• Fruit, your preference – strawberries, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries etc. (This is optional, but so yummy.)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 TB sugar (optional)
• 1 tsp vanilla or almond extract

Butter 9×13 baking dish. Layer half of bread slices or cubed pieces. Cover with softened cream cheese, either by spreading on bread slices or layering cubed cream cheese pieces, and then generously layer your choice of fruit. (**If you enjoy a bit more of a sweet cream cheese, blend in about 2 Tablespoons of sugar, but not necessary.)
Have fun with the fruit choices. I have used a mixture of every fruit imaginable.
Cover with remaining bread. Blend eggs, milk, syrup, cinnamon and vanilla, and pour over bread; cover and refrigerate overnight or minimum of one hour.
Preheat oven, and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour.

Serve with whip cream and syrup. *** Please note that since the cream cheese is not sweetened, the natural sweetener will come only from the fruit, and then the syrup served with this french toast. If you desire it a bit more sweet, mix some honey or sugar in with the softened cream cheese, which is what I do.