Pumpkin Overnight French Toast

Brunch is perhaps the best meal of all. You can eat pretty much anything, breakfast, lunch food, dessert. Whatever you want! This bread pudding/overnight French toast is a dessert wearing a breakfast robe, and it is absolutely amazing. Serving it with caramel sauce instead of maple syrup truly takes it to the next level of deliciousness. This is a perfect addition to any holiday brunches you might have planned, or simply for a delicious and easy to throw together weekend treat. Throw it together the night before and let the goodness soak into the bread, then throw it in the oven the following morning and enjoy the deliciousness!

Pumpkin Overnight French Toast:
2 cups of half and half
1 15 oz can of pumpkin
1 cup of light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of nutmeg
1/2 tsp of ginger
1/2 tsp of cloves
1/4 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of raisins
1 1/2 large loafs of Challah bread

Caramel Sauce:
1 1/4 cups of dark brown sugar
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of heavy cream

Whisk together half and half, pumpkin, sugar, eggs, and spices. Spray a 9x13" baking dish with non-stick. Cut bread into 1 inch cubes and put in dish, and sprinkle with raisins. Pour pumpkin mixture over the bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees, bake until firm and golden on top, about 45 minutes. Make the sauce: Stir the sugar and butter in a small pot, over meduim heat until butter melts, whisk in cream and stir until sauce is smooth and combined, about 3 minutes. Serve bread pudding with sauce drizzled on, or on the side. (adapted from Epicurious)

Happy Eating.

Apple Granola Muffins

I love muffins, it's basically a free pass to eat cake for breakfast. So what's better than cake for breakfast? How about cake and granola. Yum! I would never have thought to put granola inside a muffin until I saw this pear granola muffin recipe, but granola really is a wonderful filling and topping for a muffin and makes them a little more breakfasty. You can choose any granola variety you like, but I would recommend one without raisins. I used special K granola. Enjoy!

Apple Granola Muffins:
2 large eggs
3/4 cup of dark brown sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp of plain greek yogurt
2 tbsp of milk
2 tbsp of butter, melted
1 cup of all purpose flour
3/4 cup of wheat flour
2 tsps of baking powder
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of cinnamon
2 apples (1 granny smith, 1 gala), diced
3/4 cup of granola

Topping:
1 cup of granola
1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp of salt
6 tbsp of butter, chilled

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners and lightly spray with non-stick spray. In a large bowl mix together eggs, sugar, yogurt, milk, and butter until well combined slowly mix in flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon until just combined. Mix in apples and granola. Fill each muffin tin with batter approximately 3/4 full. Make topping: Mix together granola, flour, sugar and salt. Chop butter into pieces and cut into granola mixture using your hands, until clumps form. Distribute the topping over the muffins. Bake until a fork inserted comes out clean, about 15-20 minutes. Make 18. (adapted from Martha)

Happy Eating.

French Toast Bread Pudding

This, I am sad to say, is the last of my brunch posts. You might be sick of my breakfast items, but breakfast is my favorite meal and I could read (and write) about it all day long! You might say, I saved the best for last, the sweet star of the day (although I'm not sure all my party goers would agree) but this is my blog and this was my favorite of the day. Combining a few of my favorite things (Challah, maple syrup, and pudding) into one opulent, decadent, ridiculously easy to make, breakfast sensation. French toast bread pudding. Need I say more.



French Toast Bread Pudding:
1 Raisin Challah or brioche (about 16 oz of bread)
7 eggs
2 cups of 2% milk
1/2 cup of half and half
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
1/2 cup of raisins
2 bananas, sliced
1 tsp of nutmeg
1 cup of pecans
1/4 cup of maple syrup, plus more for serving

Grease a large baking dish. Rip or cut challah into bite size chunks and place into dish, sprinkle in raisins and bananas. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk, half and half, sugar and vanilla until well combined and creamy. Pour over bread and push down on bread so that everything gets covered in the egg mixture. Cover with tinfoil and refrigerate OVERNIGHT. In the morning, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees, cook covered for 30 minutes, then remove foil and cook uncovered until puffed and golden and slightly crusty, about 30 minutes. In a large pan, over medium heat, heat pecans and maple syrup, stirring so all the nuts are coated. Cook until nuts are toasted and aromatic, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle nuts on top of the bread pudding. Serve warm, with maple syrup on the side. (adapted from Epicurious)



Happy Eating.

Dinner Crew for Brunch

One of the fun things about the holidays is that all (well, most) the people you grew up with come home. As a girl who didn't stray to far from he childhood roots, this is the perfect opportunity to impress her childhood friends by playing hostess. In high school we had this lovely little tradition called dinner crew, where we would go out to dinner the night before a school day that wasn't (in service days, long weekend holidays, etc). In college we continued this tradition, getting together for dinner whenever a large number of us were home on break. Now post college, it's even harder to get everyone together, but over the Thanksgiving weekend we succeeded to get (almost) everyone together. So I hosted what I hope will be the first of many in a long standing tradition, dinner crew for brunch!



I cooked up a storm for this, and it's going to take me more than one post to share all the happiness and recipes with you, so here is a preview of things to come. Followed by some eggs and potatoes...



Mushroom, Leek and Goat Cheese Frittata:
1 large leek
2 medium shallots
1 lb (2 containers) of assorted mushrooms
1 tbsp of olive oil
10 eggs
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of pepper
4 oz (1 container) of soft goat cheese

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Slice leak and shallots. Add to the pan and cook until the leeks begin to get tender, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, breaking up and large pieces. Cook until mushrooms and tender, about 10 minutes. This part can be done the day before, put the cooked veggies in a plastic bag or some Tupperware in the fridge overnight. In a large bowl beat the eggs, cream, salt and pepper together until well combined and creamy. Stir in vegetables and crumble in goat cheese. Grease or Pam a 9 inch pan, I like to use a spring form pan, for easy removal. Pour the mixture into the pan. Place the pan on the stove top, cook over medium heat, moving the mixture around a few times, to allow the liquid eggs to run to the sides, like you would an omelet. Cook until it just begins to set, about 10 minutes. Transfer to the oven and bake until frittata is set in the center, about 30 minutes. Serve and enjoy.



Breakfast Potatoes:
3 lbs of yellow potatoes
2 large onions
1 medium shallot
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 cup of chicken stock
1 tsp of ground thyme
salt, pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 425. Chop the potatoes, onions, and shallot into small pieces. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and add potatoes, onions, shallots, and thyme. Let cook for about 5 minutes, then add the stock. Cook covered until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a baking dish and bake in the oven until potatoes are cooked through and crisp on the outside, about 10 minutes. Serve hot.

One more picture of the girls, so everyone who was there is included on the blog (don't want to leave anyone out)



So stay tuned for lots more delicious breakfast foods to come, and as always...

Happy Eating.