There haven’t been many new recipes around here for the last month and a half, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been cooking. Quite the contrary, actually – I cooked up a storm around the holidays. The hiatus was because I wanted to step away and be with my family as we dealt with the death of my father-in-law. With the new year here, I’m ready to start blogging again. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some of the recipes we loved during the holidays.

This was our Christmas morning breakfast. My mother-in-law and brother-in-law both stayed over Christmas Eve, so I wanted to have a nice morning meal. I also didn’t want it to be something that took a lot of time or effort because I’d be doing a lot of cooking for Christmas dinner later in the day. This was perfect – I mixed it up right before we went to midnight mass and then popped it in the oven when we woke up.

You can serve this with powdered sugar or syrup over the top, but I thought it was sweet enough without.

Overnight French Toast
(from The Girl Who Ate Everything)
Serves 4

2 T. butter, melted
1/3 c. packed light brown sugar
4 thick slices of challah bread
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 c. milk
2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/8 t. ground ginger
1/4 c. pecans, measured then chopped
Pinch of salt

In a small bowl combine brown sugar and melted butter and pour on the bottom of a 1.5 quart casserole dish. Arrange slices of bread in the baking dish overlapping if necessary.

Combine milk, eggs, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a bowl and pour evenly over bread slices. Sprinkle chopped pecans over bread slices.

Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 4-12 hours.

In the morning, take the casserole out of the fridge for at least 10 minutes while you are preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Bake casserole for 30-35 minutes. If top starts browning too quickly place a foil loosely over the top of the casserole for the last 10 minutes or so. You want it to cook long enough to make sure the bottom part is cooked but don’t dry it out completely.

Remove casserole from oven and let it cool slightly before serving.