You should try baking Barefoot Contessa baked French toast casserole for your next family or friend gathering. This baked good is delicious, indulgent, and warm. It is going to make your friendly dining event more robust. Let’s learn how to make this tasty casserole.
Ingredients:
- A loaf of challah bread, slice about 3/4 inch in thickness. You can use other bread but challah will get you the best French toast casserole
- 5 cups full fat milk, you can substitute it with half and half
- 8 large size eggs, free range eggs are preferable
- 3 tablespoons of honey, you can use other sweetener like stevia
- A tablespoon vanilla extract
- A tablespoon orange zest, freshly grated
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Powdered sugar or maple syrup for dressing
Baking Instructions:
- Before you start mixing the ingredients, preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Prepare a baking dish and coat the insides with butter to prevent excessive sticking.
- Place the sliced challah bread in two layers in the prepared baking dish.
- In a mixing bowl, mix full fat milk, eggs, honey, vanilla extract, orange zest, and salt. Mix until fully combine but be very gentle so you will not over mix the ingredients.
- Pour wet mixture into the baking dish then let the challah bread soak in the liquid for about 10 to 15 minutes. Make sure that most of the bread is submerged in the liquid.
- Place baking dish inside a larger dish that has been filled with hot water.
- Cover the baking dish with aluminum foils but be careful not to let the foils touch your casserole’s surface.
- Bake the Barefoot Contessa baked French toast casserole for 45 minutes inside preheated oven. Remove the aluminum foils then add additional 45 minutes until the surface turns golden brown.
- Let the casserole cools slightly before serving it with the chosen dressing.
In order to make the casserole more vibrant, you can also serve it with fruits that you like. Berries would bring freshness to the dish and adding nice color when it is being served. Some people opt to add nuts to the dish and it would indeed add some richness of flavor.
A nice thing about this dish is that it is served in the baking vessels. You can bake one and share it with a crowd since it is very indulgent. At least try baking Barefoot Contessa baked French toast casserole once, you will not be disappointed.