Baked Blueberry Pecan French Toast

from melskitchencafe.com

The pecans are toasted and tossed with a smidgeon of butter – giving them a delicious, buttery flavor. The french baquette slices soak in an egg/milk/brown sugar mixture overnight and it all bakes to glorious perfection with fresh, tart blueberries and a brown sugar caramel drizzled atop. It is very glorious and makes a perfect Saturday morning breakfast.

*Be aware that the bread needs to soak in the egg/milk/brown sugar mixture up to 8 hours so plan ahead!*

*Makes about 6 generous servings

1 French bread baguette

6 large eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup packed brown sugar, divided

1 cup pecans, chopped

1/2 stick plus 1 teaspoon butter
2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained (can use frozen .. drain well)

Butter a 9×13 baking dish.

Cut 1 1/2 inch slices from the baguette and arrange in one layer in the dish (about 6-8 slices).

Whisk together eggs, milk, nutmeg, vanilla, and 1/2 cup brown sugar in a large bowl and pour evenly over the bread.

Refrigerate mixture, covered, until all liquid is absorbed by the brea

d, at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.

When you are ready to bake and serve, preheat oven to 350 F.

Spread pecans evenly in a shallow baking pan and toast in middle of oven until fragrant, about 4 minutes.

Toss pecans with 1 teaspoon butter. Alternately (and this is what I did), toast the pecans in a skillet in one layer over medium heat, stirring often. Toss with 1 teaspoon butter. (I did this the night before to save time the morning of.)

Sprinkle pecans and blueberries evenly over bread mixture.

Cut remaining 1/2 stick butter into pieces and heat with remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar in a small saucepan, stirring, until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.

Drizzle butter mixture over bread and bake mixture 30 – 40 minutes or until any liquid from blueberries is bubbling.

Comments
Can’t say enough good things about this recipe. Superfast prep the night before and then it pops in the oven in the morning to bubble up to delicious perfection. I added some cinnamon to the custard