Weekend Company

Our favorite couple came and spent the night Friday so besides a nice Friday meal we had to have a delicious Saturday breakfast.

I saw Bobby Flay make a nice French toast casserole type dish and was inspired to try to make a cinnamon roll type French toast.

Using a smaller casserole dish for just the four of us, I picked up a loaf of Brioche from Trader Joe's as well as a jar of salted caramel sauce. As Ina would say "how bad can that be?" Of course in my haste to get things on the table at the right temperature, I forgot to photograph the final product but here goes:

Caramel Pecan French Toast casserole

1 loaf of brioche
1 jar of salted caramel sauce
6 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 T cinnamon
2 teaspoons of  vanilla
pinch of salt
1/2-3/4 cups cream or half and half
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbls Butter
Pecans about 1/2 -3/4 cup

I used most of the loaf of bread and stacked it in a greased medium casserole dish, slightly overlapping and tearing some in half to fill the sides.  Mix the custard ingredients, eggs, sugar, cream, vanilla salt and cinnamon till well blended and pour over the bread. Press the bread into the mixture, cover and let sit in the fridge overnight.

Next morning, pre heat the oven to 375. Sprinkle the top of the casserole with brown sugar, dot with butter and place the foil covered casserole in for about 30-40 minutes. Check to make sure the custard has set up then add the pecans sprinkled over the top and bake uncovered for about 10 minutes. When out of the oven, microwave the caramel sauce for 30 seconds to loosen it up and pour a fair amount over the top of the casserole. Serve immediately.

Not for the faint of heart but this was tasty morning treat and had a nice cinnamon roll taste to it. We had scrambled eggs and bacon and sausage to round out the meal with a good cup of hot coffee.