Baked Pumpkin French Toast

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: french toast, pumpkin french toast

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes

refrigerate: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Servings:

Calories: 316kcal

Simply the perfect fall breakfast or brunch treat! And the fragrance while this is baking is heavenly!

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Ingredients

1 loaf French Bread day old works great
¾ cup pecans roughly chopped
6 eggs
2 cups milk avoid non-fat
1 cup Sprouts canned pumpkin puree
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup Sprouts pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Syrup

½ cup Sprouts pure maple syrup
4 tablespoons butter 1/2 stick, melted
½ teaspoons Sprouts pumpkin pie spice

Instructions

Prepare a 9”x 13” casserole dish by lightly coating with butter (or cooking spray).
Cut French Bread into large cubes (about 1” square). Add about half of the bread to the pan, sprinkle some of the chopped pecans, and then add the remaining bread. Reserve the remaining pecans (about half).
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, canned pumpkin, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Blend until fully combined.
Pour the egg and milk mixture evenly over the pan of bread.
Add the remaining chopped pecans on top of the bread, and if desired, sprinkle just a bit more pumpkin pie spice over the top of the casserole.
Cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (up to overnight). Press the bread down into the milk mixture just a bit, so most of the bread is kept moist.
Bake, uncovered, in a preheated oven at 350°F. for 45-55 minutes or until the casserole is set, and the bread on top is golden brown.
While the casserole cools just a bit, prepare syrup by combining maple syrup, melted butter and pumpkin pie spice in a small bowl and whisking well to combine.
Before serving casserole, pour syrup evenly over casserole, or serve the syrup on the side and guests can add it to their own serving.

Notes

If you don't have pumpkin pie spice on hand, you can make your own by mixing 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ginger and 1/8 teaspoon allspice. Stir, then measure out as needed for the recipe.

You can control how soft or crispy the finished dish is by adjusting the bake time, and how long you soak the bread before baking.

If you prefer a casserole with more texture, then allow the bread to soak just 30 minutes before baking (and not overnight). To save prep time in the morning, you can prepare the ingredients the night before by cutting the bread and placing in a plastic bag, chop the nuts and set aside, then prep the milk & egg mixture and store in a sealed container in the fridge overnight. In the morning, simply assemble, allow to chill 30 minutes and then bake.

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