Caramel Soaked French Toast Recipe

My favorite thing to do on the weekends or for a special holiday is to make a big family breakfast. With the weekday mornings so busy, I usually opt for something quick and easy. But on the weekends, I can make anything from a spinach and smoked gouda Quiche to pumpkin pancakes. Sometimes I’ll even make biscuits from scratch.  My family loves it!

One of my all time favorite breakfast dishes to make is Caramel Soaked French Toast Pudding.  It is beyond delicious. Add some chocolate chips or maybe some pecans and you could serve it as a dessert. I first started making this dish  as a newly wed 13 years ago. I’ve adapted the recipe over the years to make it with different breads or for potluck parties.  The important thing that you can’t change is soaking the bread over night.  You prepare everything the night before and then set it in the fridge.

I made this dish recently to participate in the #FinishRiseandShine Challenge. Although delicious, the caramel creates sticky dishes, the process takes a little time, and there are a pile of dishes left behind.  But, since you do all the “hard work” the night before, you can clean right afterwards. Put your dishes in the dishwasher with Finish® Quantum® that has the New Power Gel and it gives your dishes the best shine ever- without having to pre-rinse. Go ahead,  take the #FinishRiseandShine Challenge yourself and wake up knowing that breakfast and the dishes are done! The challenge, do not rinse dishes when you load the dishwasher.

After we took the challenge, I baked my dish and unloaded the dishwasher thrilled to find all my dishes clean and shiny! How’s that for a shinier morning?

Now for the recipe…

Caramel Soaked French Toast Pudding Recipe

Ingredients

• Bread of choice from your grocer’s bakery. French bread, Challah, or even gourmet hamburger bread works best. Avoid sliced bread. Day old bread is perfect. Use enough bread to cover your dish. Usually one loaf of Challah or 3-4 four buns.
• 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
• 3/4 cups of butter
• 1/4 cups of light corn syrup (sometimes I use only 2 or 3 tablespoons and it tastes fine)
• 2 1/2 cups of milk or half-and-half (sometimes I do half of each)
• 3 extra large eggs
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• dash of salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Directions

1. Add brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup into medium sauce pan.  Bring to slow boil and mix continuously until the caramel is formed. Turn off heat. Pour immediately into butter greased dish.
2. Tear the bread apart into pieces and place bread on top of caramel. Tearing the bread  helps the bread soak up all the milk. Dry bread can ruin this dish!
3. Combine milk, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla and mix together. Pour mixture over bread making sure bread is covered with mixture. If you need to add some more milk, do so as the baking process can dry out the bread.
4. Sprinkle some additional cinnamon on top of dish. Cover, then place in fridge 8 hours or more.
5. Remove cover, bake for 350 degrees 30-45 minutes. Until top of bread starts to get brown.

Enjoy!