This is a super easy, quick and delicious make-ahead brunch recipe! The orange really gives this a sunny and bright quality to it, and the blueberries add a hint of sweetness. Perfect for summer! I recommend making this the night before, but you can certainly make it day of as well.
Ingredients
- 1 loaf of Challah bread
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup of milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 2/3 cup blueberries (fresh but could be frozen)
- 1 orange (zest and juice)
- 1/2 cup (or less) of brown sugar loosely packed
- 1 tsp turbinado sugar (optional)
- 1/4 stick of butter
- 1 tsp of arrowroot powder or corn starch
Instructions
Grab a casserole dish, I use a 9” x 9”, and lightly spray it with some olive oil and set aside.
Take your loaf of Challah and cut it into 1 inch wide slices, and then chop those into 1 inch by 1 inch cubes and toss into the casserole dish. I usually end up using about 3/4 loaf of Challah.
Pour 1 cup of milk into a medium mixing bowl, and crack 3 eggs into it. Whisk together until fully combined.
Pour the vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg into the egg/milk mixture and combine.
Pour the egg/milk mixture over the bread in the casserole dish and gently mix so that the bread is coated.
Place blueberries into a small sauce pan.
Zest the entire orange and toss the zest into the blueberries, and then cut the orange in half and squeeze the juice from both halves into the blueberries as well.
Take 1/4 cup of brown sugar (so half of the total amount used) and add to the blueberries.
Turn the burner onto medium high and gently stir the blueberries.
The blueberry mixture will start to come to a boil and the blueberries will start to break down.
When the blueberries are boiling and breaking down, turn the heat down to low.
Optional: Gently smash some of the blueberries that have not broken down.
Once the blueberries are broken down - generally around 5 minutes after boiling - remove from the heat and sprinkle in the arrowroot powder or corn starch and mix it together until fully combined. This will make the blueberry juice thicker so it will stick to the bread better.
Once the blueberries have cooled, gently pour the mixture all over the bread in the dish.
Then gently sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of brown sugar over the bread.
Cover and let the dish sit in the fridge overnight or at least 1 hour.
When you are ready to bake the dish, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
While the oven is preheating, take 1/4 stick of butter and melt it. Then pour it evenly over the top of the French Toast in the dish. (Optional to add turbinado sugar on top)
Once the oven has reached temperature, bake the French Toast for 35 minutes. The tops will look dark brown - but it’s not burnt! It’s reached color from the butter and has added a nice crunchy texture to the outer layer.
Remove and let the French toast sit for 8-10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Macros
If using a 9” x 9” pan and follow instructions, we make this into 4 servings. For one serving:
29 g carbs / 13 g fat / 7 g fat
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