Hello Thanksgiving breakfast.
Pumpkin French Toast: A made-from-scratch breakfast casserole with sweet cinnamon and creamy pumpkin in every delicious bite. It’s perfect for feeding a crowd, or for enjoying on a quiet and chilly autumn morning. Simply assemble the night before, and pop it into the oven in the morning for a delicious and comforting breakfast.
If this were a Friends episode, it would be called: The one where she has way too much fun taking “pouring shot” photos.
Pumpkin Baked French Toast
(Serves 4-6)
- 3 1/2 cups cubed bread (I used Ezekiel, but other types are fine. French bread would be really good in this recipe, as would cinnamon-raisin. Depending on the type of bread, you might need more or less than 3.5 cups. You want enough to fill an 8×8 pan.) (175g)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or just add a little extra cinnamon)
- sweetener of choice (If you want to top the casserole with syrup post-baking, use 3 nunaturals stevia packs or 3 tbsp sugar. If you’d prefer a sweeter breakfast casserole that needs no topping, increase the amount to 5-6 tbsp)
- 1 1/4 cups milk of choice (300g) (Depending on your choice of bread, you might need to use less. This is a good amount for the Ezekiel bread.)
- optional: 2 tbsp butter-type spread of choice (for a more buttery result) (30g)
- 1 cup MoriNu silken-firm tofu, or 1 cup yogurt of choice (240g)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (I used canned pumpkin) (120g)
- optional: handful of raisins
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except bread, and stir very well. (If using the tofu, you should blend these ingredients. Otherwise, just stir by hand.) Grease an 8×8-in baking pan, and pour the cubed bread into the pan. Cover evenly with the wet mixture, then cover the entire dish with a lid or saran wrap and fridge overnight. The next morning, preheat oven to 400 F and cook about 30-35 minutes. Top with maple syrup or your favorite French toast topping (or eat plain, if you opt to use the extra dry sweetener pre-baking.)
And for everyone who asked:
Can you guess which Gossip Girl character I was?
I didn’t include costume photos in my original post for a few reasons, the main one being it’s not a very elaborate costume. I didn’t think it was worth posting. I also don’t normally take my camera to parties, which was why the post was made up of recycled photos. In retrospect, I probably should’ve skipped posting on Thursday altogether. But one’s mind doesn’t always think straight on two hours of sleep. (Side note: I borrowed the Chanel bag from a friend, and it’s actually a knock-off from Canal Street in NYC. I’m thinking Serena would not approve. Other side note: I wanted to be Blair, but they said I was too blonde. Yet another side note: …I think I’ve written enough side notes. I’ll stop now.)
Link of the Day: Healthy Pumpkin Recipes
I wanted to give some redemption to the “soggy” French toast bake problems. I made this to enjoy this morning. It didn’t work out. After baking for 1.5 hours, I scooped the soupy mess into a muffin tin, thinking it might firm up a little better. After baking 40 more minutes, I gave up and just made regular French toast. However, in my laziness, I didn’t clean out the muffin tin immediately. I noticed, once it cooled, it firmed up to a nice consistency. I decided to try it and it was delicious! I popped it out of the muffin tin and froze it to eat on a later day. So, if the recipe doesn’t work out well for you, try to let it sit awhile and eat it at a later date. Bonus: I don’t need to cook breakfast tomorrow and I have grab and go baked French toast cups to go!
Notes on what I used: reduced milk a tad, honey for sweetner and cinnamon raisin bread. I followed the rest of the recipe exactly.