Tips and Tricks
Make sure that your bread is dry. As mentioned above, you want it totally dried out so it can really absorb the batter.Use frozen berries. I love using frozen berries for this recipe because they are so easy to keep on hand. You can use fresh berries too, but do not thaw the frozen berries before adding them to the batter.Use cold butter. This will help it hold up to baking.Use forks if you don’t own a pastry cutter. Cutting the butter into the sugar is key for the streusel, that can be done with a pastry cutter, but forks work great too!
Freezing
This berry french toast casserole is great to freeze if you want to prepare it in advance. Build the recipe through step three on the recipe card. Wrap the casserole dish at least two times with aluminum foil and place it in the freezer for up to three months. This Berry French Toast Casserole is a spin on my traditional French Toast Casserole. It can be made the night before or the morning of and is a nice mix between a breakfast dish and a dessert, which makes it perfect for brunch, especially if you are celebrating.
Dry out the bread. Read more about this below.Make the batter. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, whole milk, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and granulated sugar.Add the bread to the batter. Make sure all of the bread cubes are fully coated with the mixture. Add the berries. Mix in your berries and place in a lightly greased baking dish and pour the mixture into a lightly greased baking dish.Make streusel topping. Combine your brown sugar, butter, and quick oats and sprinkle the mixture over the french toast. Bake. While it bakes up, make some homemade whipped cream! You will have plenty of heavy cream left to whip some up and it literally could not be easier to make.
You can dry out the bread by cutting it up into cubes and leaving it out overnight. Or to dry it out quicker, you can pop it in the oven at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 to 45 minutes. If you put it in the oven, make sure to flip it once during baking so that it is dried out all around.
Follow the recipe card as written through step four.Cover and place it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.When you are ready to bake it, it can go right from the refrigerator to the oven.Bake the dish for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until the edges begin to pull away from the side of the dish.
Add some powdered sugar on top. I love using this wand want do sprinkle it over the top.Make some Homemade Whipped Cream. This recipe is a stabilized whipped cream, which is fantastic, but you can make this without the gelatin if you are serving it right away.Add some fresh berries. I love the pop of color they bring.
Be cautious when using glass or ceramic baking dishes as they can shatter. It is best to use an aluminum baking dish if you want to freeze it.
Other Brunch Recipes
Crustless Spinach QuicheFrittataFruit Salad
If you try this baked french toast recipe or any of my other brunch ideas, please leave a comment and tell me what you think. I love hearing from you!
