This gooey blueberry French toast casserole is the perfect weekend or holiday breakfast. Make it the same day, or make it ahead the night before for an easy breakfast in the morning that is easy but impressive. Drizzle with warm maple syrup and dig in!
Equipment
9" x 11" Baking Dish
Spray oil
Sharp knife
Cutting board
Medium sized mixing bowl
Whisk
Ingredients
For the casserole
1loaf chewy bread - like sourdough or French- this can be day oldshould be about a pound/16 ounces.
6large eggs
1cupmilk
1teaspoonvanilla
Pinchof salt
2cupsblueberries
For the streusel topping
3tablespoonssoftened butter
¼cupflour
¼cupbrown sugar
¼cuprolled oats
½teaspooncinnamon
Pinchof salt
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the butter for the streusel topping into small pieces and leave it on the counter to soften. Spray a 9x 11 casserole dish with a spray oil.
In a medium-sized bowl add cracked eggs and mix with a whisk until well mixed. Add milk, vanilla and a pinch of salt then wisk with the eggs until combined.
Slice the bread into 1-inch cubes, you should have about 8-10 cups of bread when you are done slicing.
Add ½ of the bread to the bottom of the casserole dish. Add ½ of the blueberries spread out over the bread. Add the rest of the bread on top of the blueberries. Pour the custard over top of the bread evenly across the dish, pressing down on any pieces of bread that stick up above the custard and are dry. Add the rest of the blueberries to the top of the dish. Let the casserole sit at least 30 minutes, but can be stored in the fridge overnight and baked the next day.
In a medium-sized bowl add softened butter, flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon and salt. With a fork or pastry cutter, cut the butter into the dry ingredients by pushing the butter through the prongs of the fork over and over. Keep mixing until the mixture goes from dry and powdery looking to a mixture that looks like wet sand.
If making this French toast casserole the night before, store the casserole and the streusel topping both in the fridge in seperate containers until the morning. If baking right away, skip to the next step
Sprinkle the streusel mixture over the French toast. (If the streusel was in the fridge, you may need to break it up with a spoon before sprinkling.) Bake for 23-25 minutes until gooey but no longer raw. You should see the mixture bubbling. Serve with a generous drizzle of maple syrup and enjoy!
Notes
Make the streusel topping the night before but store is separate from the casserole. Sprinkle the streusel topping on top of the casserole right before you bake it. Sprinkling the topping the night before can cause the oats in the topping to become soggy You lose that delicious chewiness to the oats because they will absorb moisture from the casserole overnight.
Fresh blueberries are preferred, but you can use frozen. Frozen berries do tend to color the entire dish more and may have more moisture than frozen berries. You may need to cook the dish a little longer. I recommend adding frozen blueberries just to the top of the pan right before cooking and not layering them if you are leaving this casserole in the fridge overnight.