Overnight Stuffed French Toast, of the Blackberry Variety.

Back in July, my mom hooked me up with a flat of blackberries.  We froze about half of those, so we’ve got a nice stockpile in the freezer still.  So when I saw a recipe on Pinterest for Overnight French Toast….yeahhhh….the pic might SHOW blueberries, but I had blackberries on the brain.  Nothing against blueberries, mind you.  But I don’t have a stockpile of fresh-frozen BLUEberries, now do I?  But seriously---this would be awesome with whatever berries you have on hand: strawberries, cherries, raspberries…heck, I think you could even attempt this with gooseberries, though you might want to add some extra sugar in that situation.

This recipe was nicely simple.  Just perfect for a weekend.  I prepped everything up on Friday night, woke up after a nice sleep-in, popped it in the oven, had my morning coffee, read for a bit, played around on Facebook, and then by the time the Hubs roused himself, breakfast was ready!

Oh…and it was DEELISHUSSSS.

Ingredients:

12 slices French bread, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 (8 ounce) package fat free cream cheese, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup fresh blackberries
6 eggs, beaten
2 cups skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg  
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 cup fresh blackberries
1 tablespoon light butter

Directions:

Lightly coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray, and then place half of the bread cubes into the pan.  Place half the blackberries on top of that, then add the cream cheese cubes.  Cover that with the remaining bread and berries.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, then add the spices, milk, vanilla, and syrup.  Pour over the pan evenly, cover, and place in the fridge until the morning.

 

The next morning, heat your oven to 350F, remove the pan from the fridge and let it sit for a bit (20-30 minutes) to come closer to room temp.  Then place in the oven for 30 minutes while covered with foil.  After 30 minutes, remove the foil and let finish cooking until the center is firm and the top is lightly browned.

While that’s cooking, we need to make a sauce for the top.  So in a small sauce pan, mix the sugar, cornstarch, and water and bring to a boil. Stirring constantly, cook 3 to 4 minutes. Mix in the remaining 1 cup blackberries.  Then reduce heat and simmer  for about 10 minutes or until the berries burst.

Stir in the butter, and pour over the baked French toast.

Serve warm and dig in!

 

Makes 12 servings.

 

NutriFacts:

Calories 249.0

  Total Fat 4.0 g

  Saturated Fat 1.1 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 1.5 g

  Cholesterol 96.7 mg

  Sodium 386.2 mg

  Potassium 207.8 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 42.5 g

  Dietary Fiber 2.2 g

  Sugars 22.2 g

  Protein 10.3 g