French Toast Casserole

casserole:
 1/2 loaf Challah, torn into bite-sized pieces
6 eggs 
1 1/2 cups milk 
1/2 cup heavy cream* 
1/2 cup sugar 
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon 
1 tsp vanilla 
1 tsp maple syrup
Topping: 
2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup cold grated butter
1/4 cup white sugar 
1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions: 
Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish and add your bread chunks. 
In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, milk, heavy cream, and sugar until combined. 
Add nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup and give it a good stir. 
Pour the egg mixture over the bread chunks. Cover this overnight. 
To make the topping: 
In a small bowl, or a thick zippered bag, add your flour, white sugar, and brown sugar and mix (or shake) until combined. 
Add the grated butter and toss to form a cobbler-esque topping. 
Chill until ready to use. 
The next morning, preheat your oven to 350° F. 

Cover your bread mix with the crumble topping. 

Bake for 45 minutes. Check for crispy edges and a soft but not gooey center. If needed, bake up to an additional 15 minutes). 

Allow to cool and serve. 

Notes:

*You do not have to use heavy cream, but it adds a much richer texture than 2 cups of milk does. 

Adding the maple syrup and vanilla are completely optional, but take this dish to the next level. 

You can make a "quick" version of this by letting the bread soak in the egg mixture for at least an hour before baking. You lose some of the classic french toast texture, but it is still tasty. 

The story behind the recipe: 

We used to chow down on a full loaf of Challah each Shabbat so I never even had a need for using the leftovers.... until we invited my sister over for Shabbat and I made two pizzas; leaving us with leftovers. My husband REALLY liked the leftover pizza so soon after I started making two pizzas. We usually ate 1-2 pieces of the second that night and had the leftovers on Saturday for lunch. This meant we filled up on less bread and more pizza. Add in my weekly dessert recipes once the pandemic started and suddenly we had over half a loaf of Challah stale out on us. For some reason it bothered me less that the Challah would get stale (or be eaten by our very odd dog who has a weird obsession with bread) but once we moved from Colorado to Arkansas the once stale bread started to become moldy bread. I got tired of throwing away moldy bread each week and originally wanted to try to make bread pudding. I guess this is in the same category? 

I tried a recipe the first time and it was awful. I had no idea how much 10 ounces of bread was so I used waaaayyyy too much egg mixture for the amount of bread I had. So I halved it the next time and it was much better, but it was missing something. Now that I had my ratios down, I did some experimenting while my parents were in town (probably not the best time to experiment with food, but it worked so no regrets) and came up with this recipe. They loved it! Our sweet-toothed children did too, but my husband was busy changing the oil on our car and did not get to try it. So I recreated it (and wrote it down this time) to get the former-chef's seal of approval, and viola! An easy way to use leftover Challah and a delicious breakfast for Saturday mornings! 

Let me know what you think and what additions you make! I want to try a chocolate version of this soon. Is that too much?? Seeing as I am borderline excessive, I will probably make a chocolate version in the coming months... Anyways, a huge thank you for stopping by our blog and we hope you have a blessed day!