Raspberry Cream Cheese French Toast

 

I’ve started to treasure days off from work as if they were sparkly gems and shiny precious metals. Much of the time I get the usual number of them in a week otherwise occupied by a full-time job, but sometimes I don’t and sometimes there are a lot of extra hours in between them. Sometimes, I think I’m going to get them, but then I don’t, but then it turns out that I do….

My kingdom for a schedule! Anyway, nothing says, “I have the day off,” like a leisurely breakfast, whether it is enjoyed in a restaurant or in my own kitchen. Last weekend, I had time for two of them, these Fluffy Orange Pancakes, and a baked French toast, based on this marmalade-laced one from two years ago. I had added cream cheese to the middle layer of that dish, and wanted to do that again, but pairing it with raspberry preserves instead.

I scaled this recipe down from a 13 x 9” pan to an 8” square one, adjusting the volume of the custard mixture and the preserves. I kept the quantity of cream cheese, however, because I wanted to really let my love of raspberries and cream cheese have wings. It was a wise choice, because it really was delicious.

This is not a particularly moist baked French toast in the end, which, to me, means it isn’t mushy. The top layer of bread gets a little crisp, which I like, and the softer middle layer is plumped up with the flavors of raspberry and cream cheese. The cream cheese didn’t melt much, mostly keeping itself in little pockets. This slices fairly neatly into squares for serving, and holds its shape on a plate.

 

I think you could also serve this in more of a bread pudding style by cubing the bread, tossing the raspberry preserves and cream cheese with it, pouring the custard over all of it, and scooping it in big spoonfuls to serve. You could also use whatever jam or preserves you like (strawberry or blueberry would be great), or even omit the cream cheese.

I also would have liked to add some fresh raspberries, or at least garnished each serving with them, but there was a rather nasty blizzard happening, and fresh raspberries just weren’t a priority.  Being warmed from within by a hearty, delicious, hot breakfast that I had put most of the effort into the night before was my priority. My sparkly, shiny, much-treasured priority.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Baked French Toast

This dish needs to stand 6-8 hours in the refrigerator before baking, so to serve it for breakfast, you need to assemble it the night before.  I did not find that it needed anything extra, but you could serve it with warm maple syrup, a fruity syrup or compote, or more raspberry preserves, thinned with a little water and heated slightly. Of course, garnish with fresh berries if you have them.

About 12 ounces French or country bread

6 ounces raspberry preserves or jam

4 ounces cream cheese, cut into small cubes

4 large eggs

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 ½ cups milk

½ teaspoon almond extract

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray, or grease it with butter. Set aside.

2. Cut the bread into 1-1 ½ inch slices. Place one layer of bread in the bottom of the prepared dish.

3. Spread the raspberry preserves on top of the bread. Distribute the cream cheese cubes over the preserves. Top with the remaining bread slices, getting as much bread into the dish as you can.

4. In a medium-size bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, milk, almond extract, and vanilla extract. Beat together until smooth. Pour over the bread in the baking dish.

5. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 6-8 hours or overnight. (This can be done up to a day ahead.)

6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 F. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until the custard has set and the bread on top is beginning to brown. (Cover with foil if the bread is browning before the custard is baked.) Let stand about 10 minutes before cutting into squares to serve.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Marmalade Cream Cheese Baked French Toast, French Toast Casserole with Cardamom and Pears

One year ago: Chocolate Cake with Porter and Ganache Topping