This Baked Brown Sugar French Toast is a delicious, rich and flavorful breakfast (or should I say Bressert) fit for any occasion!
You guys, you guys, you guys! Christmas is like in 3 days and I’m like an excited 6 year old when it comes to Christmas. This year on Christmas Eve morning I plan to make French toast for breakfast. This French toast to be exact.
Why this ^ French toast? Because it’s delicious. It’s why I won’t ever diet and why I love brown butter.
And it’s also why breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.
It’s easy-peasy just grab some brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, challah! (because who doesn’t have that just lying around?), half & half, eggs and butter. Now before we move on I want to tell you that you’ll need not one but two challah loafs and two sticks of buttah. In my head I knew I was making a half batch for the blog and the rest later {for dinner!}, so I didn’t put those in the picture, uh-duh. So please don’t be confused… because surely I am.
This baked French toast is crazy easy and it feeds an army. Okay, a small army.
First, heat a 10-inch skillet over medium heat and gradually brown two sticks of butter. Click here to see more details on how to brown butter with out drama.
Next, divide the brown sugar in half and scatter it in the bottom of two un-greased 11×15 baking dishes.
Pour the browned butter over top and mix until the brown sugar has successfully absorbed all the glorious brown butter.
In a large bowl crack 5 to 6 eggs. I use farm eggs and I never really can tell what size the yolks are going to be.
Next, add in two cups of the half & half.
Then add in two tablespoons real vanilla extract.
Next, whisk until combined.
Challah! This egg-y loaf is perfect for French toast. It’s pretty dense so it soaks up the liquids nicely! Slice two loafs into 1 inch thick pieces.
Next, dDunk the entire thing in the egg mixture…
And then place them into two 11×15 baking dishes.
Any extra egg mixture can be drizzled over each slice.
I could literally take a bite of one of these right now. Deeeeelicious!
Lastly just sprinkle with some cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg. No precise measurements are needed.
Finally, bake in a preheated 375° oven for 20-25 minutes. The edges should be golden and crispy and your place should be smellin’ AHHH-mazing!
Serve with the brown sugary-ness face-up. Maybe not the prettiest view, but it smells great at this altitude.
I like to serve mine with a little sprinkle of powdered sugar. Okay-okay A LOT of powdered sugar… as if there’s not enough already? Lay it on me. Who needs maple syrup? Not these bad-boys.
Really this shouldn’t dare be called breakfast. Maybe Bressert? Breakfast + Dessert… get it?
Ahhhh… Christmas. I’ll be enjoying the holidays with my families. Eating good food, lots of coffee and lotsa’ presents! I’ll be taking a few days off, so until then…
Merry Christmas friends!
Enjoy!
Baked Brown Sugar French Toast
Ingredients
- 3 cups dark brown sugar, or light brown sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 6 eggs
- 2 cups half & half, see notes
- 2 tablespoons real vanilla extract
- 2 loaves challah, cut into 1 inch slices
- cinnamon
- freshly grated nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375° degrees.
- In a 10 inch skillet over medium heat, slowly cook the butter until the milk solids turn a deep amber, about 15 minutes.
- Divide brown sugar into two 11x15 baking dishes. Divide and pour in the browned butter, stir together until the brown sugar absorbs the butter and spread it back out evenly.
- In a large bowl; whisk together the eggs, half & half and vanilla.
- Dunk both sides of the sliced challah and arrange in baking dishes.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Bake for 25 minutes, rotating pans if necessary.
- Let cool for 5 minutes before serving, brown sugar-side up. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
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WOW-oh-WOW, does that look delicious and SO festive, perfect for Christmas!!! Beautiful photos too!! Merry Christmas!!!!!
It looks delicious.
I hade breakfast a couple of hours ago so I can easily say that it’s time for second breakfast!
Guess what I’m going to have?
Oh heck yes! You had me at brown butter! Merry Christmas Laurie!
I love baked french toast, esp when I can make it ahead. This looks gorgeous. Have a great holiday, Laurie!
Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. This looks utterly divine! I need this in my life like yesterday. So amazing.
Please don’t remind me… I still have ALL of my wrapping to do. Maybe I’ll skip wrapping, put everything under the tree and have a free for all? lol And then we can skip to breakfast?!
Ohhhh dang girl! Your French toast surpasses all french toasts I have ever made! By golly, I need to make this! I’m spending a few days with my family over the holidays (ahem…fellow french toast lovers) and I’ll be sure to suggest we make this first thing in the morning!
All the things! French toast just makes me smile. Breakfast food = joy food.
Laurie, this looks heavenly! Makes me want to run out to the store at almost 11 PM to buy all the necessary ingredients!
I love french toast!! I always fry mine…needless to say I’m quite excited to give yours a try! Merry Christmas!!
Yeah, might need to change our breakfast plans – this looks insanely good!
it looks incredible!
JUST MADE THIS AWESOMENESS….Total “hit” with our reunited tribe for a pre-Christmas brunch this morning!!!…It is SO easy to prepare…looks/smells like dynamite coming out of the oven….(I didn’t even have to call everyone down for breakfast…as the amazing aromas did the job for me)…
The brown sugar carmelized to perfection …creating a mixture of gooey delicious caramel AND precious toffee “bits” that were fought over with much ferocity. I added a tad bit of almond extract to the affair…and would consider adding a bit of amaretto or amber rum next time…The cinnamon and nutmeg are simply delicious.
Warning!…This makes a TON of French Toast…and could easily serve 10-12 hungry people…but I don’t mind a wit…because tomorrow morning I plan on simply re-heating the amazing leftovers…350°F for a few minutes?….
I want to sincerely thank you for such an incredible recipe….It will be the new STANDARD French Toast recipe for us…by popular, unanimous request.
Made this this morning! and wow…soooo yummy. Will be keeping this recipe.
Merry Christmas!
Oh my! Looks like I know what I’ll be cooking for Xmas morning!
Oh my goodness, what have you done? French toast is my favorite breakfast food. My dad’s too…. I think I’ll have to make this for our Christmas breakfast! Maybe I’ll make them your chicken pot pie too!
It looks great! But mine turned out a little soggy. Did I use too much butter perhaps ? I know I over browned the butter. Otherwise it was great
I made this yesterday for Christmas breakfast and when I say it was amazing that is an understatement! Everyone was in love with the dish! Thank you so much for sharing. You made my family smile from ear to ear yesterday 🙂
Oh my goodness – those thick slices of challah have me drooling here!
Nice that u make thicker slices.. Yummy.
Thank you for this recipe! I made this for an overnight family holiday gathering and everyone loved it! The browned-butter sugar crust?! Heaven!
I made a half batch, and the one-pound loaf of Challah gave us eight thick slices, which was plenty for four of us. I split the slices and sugar mixture between two 13″x9″ pans as I didn’t have anything larger. Worked just fine, except the exposed sugar around the slices got darker than probably would have been tasty–but it was easy to avoid when serving up the slices of French toast, so it was just fine. Thanks again! 🙂
=( I’m so allergic to cinnamon and nutmeg (recent development) but I’m craving some french toast. This looks amazing!! Waaaaaaaa!
This “Bressert” would be great for Brunch! 😉 I love the add flavor nutmeg adds to the taste. Thanks!
I made this for brunch with my in-laws on Saturday and loved it so much I made another batch last night to have on hand in the mornings before work. I know it is crazy but I never knew the intensely delicious taste on brown sugar and butter. Can I put it on everything?! Great, easy recipe!
Can you prep this the night before and then just put it in the oven the next morning?