31 Cups: ~Baked Pumpkin French Toast

Thursday, November 29, 2012

~Baked Pumpkin French Toast

Baked Pumpkin French Toast


Yes, that is a pool of half and half..

I found this amazing baked french toast recipe over at smittenkitchen a few weeks ago and we already made it twice and loved it. It is super tasty and doesn't call for hoighty-toighty things. It can be made the night before and cooked for Brunch or made in the morning and then it is ready to pop in the oven at suppertime. It is slightly putzy but worth every bite. Makes me want to buy her cookbook. Cookbook found here!

We were blessed with a gift of so many pumpkins this year that I am trying to come up with creative ways to use them. We have had pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin fries, and pumpkin stew. It was time to tackle another adaptation!

I took this amazing recipe and adjusted it for us to use pumpkin puree with the basic ingredients and method she used over at smittenkitchen. I tweaked a few things and it turned out beautifully. Please don't judge it (or me!) based on the pictures. I try, but I don't have the talent or the camera my sister has and this was a heartfelt attempt to capture the pumpkiney goodness.

Baked Pumpkin French Toast
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
8-16 slices sandwich bread (if using homemade it will be less slices)
1-1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 cups skim milk
2 cups pumpkin puree
9 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon maple flavoring (over by the extracts)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Mix the spices and sugar together and leave in a small bowl. Place the sliced bread on cookie sheets in a single layer. Spread each slice of bread with butter, then sprinkle each slice with some of the sugar-spice mixture. Pretend like your making cinnamon toast! Toast the trays of bread in the oven. When they are lightly browned, 6 or 7 minutes, take out of the oven and set aside to cool a bit. It smells so good right now! Lower the oven temp to 375 degrees.

Butter your 9 x 13 pan and then shingle layer your toasts in the pan. Try to make them kinda even. End with a half slice at the end of the row.

Whisk the rest of the ingredients together. The pumpkin makes it a slightly heavy custard. Feel free to sprinkle a little bit of nutmeg and ginger in the wet mix. Pour as evenly as possible over the toasts. Let sit for at least 15 minutes (or overnight) so all that pumpkin goodness seeps into the bread. {Just a quick Minnesota pronunciation lesson my friend M would appreciate... Minnesotans say Toast like Toe-st. Felt like I needed to get that out because I have typed Toe-st so many times. :) }

Sprinkle with remaining sugar spice mixture and bake for around 30 minutes. You want it to be a little bit puffed up and solid. You don't want any liquid floating in the pan. Cut and serve with maple syrup, use the real stuff if you can because it is SO MUCH BETTER and you need less.