Easy Sunday Morning Brunch

Love the rhinestone collars for wine bottles or decanters - available at  the store

My favorite champagne glasses- Palais by Bayel in France

Puffed and golden brown just out of the oven

 

I wanted to prepare a simple -no stress- brunch for Sunday morning. So I assembled an Overnight

Raspberry French Toast the night before that was so easy.  The next morning I took the casserole out of the refrigerator and added the crumble to the top along with the fresh raspberries and popped it in the oven.  The smell was divine as the French toast baked.  Asiago and Parmesan scrambled eggs and uncured applewood smoked bacon were leisurely prepared while  the casserole baked. As a finishing touch, I sliced fresh oranges and added raspberries with a little Grand Marnier splashed into the bowl.

A little champagne poured into a glass and breakfast was ready!  Note:  this baked French toast is light, fluffy and very good. I think you could add pecans to the crumble topping and make it  even more deelish.  Any berry could be substituted. While I sliced the challah bread into slices, I think it would have been more consistent presentation if I had diced the bread  into cubes and made French Toast bread pudding- something I will try next time! But definitely a keeper of a recipe and one that can be easily adapted. We will be joining www.betweennapsontheporch.net for Tablescape Thursday.

 

Baked Raspberry French Toast

 

12 slices of bread

8 large eggs

4 T.  granulated sugar

1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

3 c. milk

2 c. fresh raspberries, cleaned

4 T.butter, softened

1/2 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. brown sugar, packed

 

Butter a 9 by 13 baking dish.  In the prepared dish, arrange the bread in layers, cutting in half as needed for coverage.  In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, granulated sugar, vanilla and milk. Pour over the bread. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees.  Remove the dish from the refrigerator and sprinkle the fresh raspberries over the bread.  Combine the butter, flour and brown sugar; blend with a fork until combined.  Sprinkle over the berry layer.  Bake uncovered for 40 minutes or until puffed and brown.

Serve immediately with syrup.