My husband and I spent the evening last night in bed after we put the kids down watching funny videos and food videos on BuzzFeed, then woke up craving french toast for breakfast. I went to get the ingredients from my local Fred Meyers. I usually get Challah bread and make individual french toast, but this morning I wanted something a little more different so i got some mini croissants, cut them into smaller chunks, added chunks of softened cream cheese and had some frozen blueberries… add the custard and you have a party in your mouth.
Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas Eve!
CARDAMOM, BLUEBERRY & CREAM CHEESE CROISSANT FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE
Ingredients
- 10 cups of cubed croissants (about 13 mini sized croissants)
- 8 oz soft reduced fat cream cheese
- 1 cup frozen blueberries (or your favorite fresh or frozen berries)
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 1/2 cups reduced fat milk
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 8 large eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp finely ground cardamom (I used the seeds and crushed with a mortar and pestle)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Prepare your baking dish by buttering a 8x11 baking dish with softened butter.
- Melt pieces of butter in a small sauce pan on the stove top or in the microwave if you have one, until melted. Whisk in the milk, half and half, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cardamom and the eggs. Set aside.
- Place half of the cubed croissants in the bottom of the baking dish. Top with small chunks of cream cheese using half of the cream cheese and half of the blueberries. Top with the remaining cubed croissants and then the remaining cream cheese and blueberries. Pour the custard mixture over the top of the casserole. Push down the top of the casserole with the backside of a spoon or your fingers, making sure to get the custard mixture evenly distributed within the dish.
- Bake at 350F for 50 to 55 minutes. If the top of the casserole begins to become too dark, cover with aluminum foil.
- Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before serving so the casserole has time to set.
- Optional: Serve with flavored maple syrup by adding the maple syrup into a small saucepan with a few tablespoons of your favorite jam, bring to simmer, turn it off, drain using a fine mesh strainer. I also had some lemon curd in the fridge that I added some extra lemon to make it more runny and mixed that well with a spoon and drizzled that on top. Finish it off with powdered sugar and enjoy every bit of it like we did.
We wish you a Happy Holiday Season from the GLADSTONES | est. 2015.
Enjoy and Bon Appetité!
xoxo,
LENA
Valya
My go to recipe when family is in town and I need to make hearty breakfast. It’s fulfilling and delicious! I make it night before and in the morning I put eggs mixture! It saves times in the morning when dealing with guests and two toddlers. Great recipe!!!
lena
This makes me so happy to hear. I love it too, so easy and delicious. Glad you enjoyed it as well.
Heather | Gold Dipped Chaos
Lena! You’ve done it again!!!