Baked French Toast Casserole

For a Paula Deen recipe this actually wasn't tooooo unhealthy! Super easy for a morning brunch AND the directions actually want you to make it the night before - so no super early morning preparing! This would be easy enough to make multiple batches and was so tasty!!

Both kids said they didn't like french toast - tried some and changed their minds!

I served this baked french toast with bacon, Bacon and Spinach Quiche, and fresh fruit. A perfectly easy mostly make ahead brunch!

Baked French Toast Casserole with Maple Syrup
Adapted from Paula Deen
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients
1 loaf Challah bread (16 ounces) cut/ripped into 1 inch squares
8 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1 cup 1% milk
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Dash salt

Praline Topping - combine the following ingredients in a medium bowl:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans/waluts
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions
Tear or slice bread into 1-inch squares. Arrange cubes in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch baking dish.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt and wisk until well blended. 

Pour mixture over the bread and make sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. 

Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake (without foil) for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. 

Serve with maple syrup.

Spinach and Bacon Quiche

Um, this was incredible and totally was perfect for brunch! It has protein right?! I swapped out the heavy cream for half and half, used 1/3 pound of bacon, omitted the extra salt, and only used a small sprinkle of cheese. I adjusted the amounts and it will JUST fit into the 9 inch pie plate. If you are going to add more cheese I would reduce the bacon and use 5 eggs.

This is easy enough to make the morning of your brunch within an hour (about 15 minutes of prep work) - but make the bacon the night before!

I baked the bacon at 350F for 15 minutes on a foil lined cookie tray.

Spinach and Bacon Quiche

adapted from Paula Deen
serves 8

6 large eggs
1 1/4 cups half and half
Pepper
2 cup chopped fresh baby spinach, packed
1/3 pound bacon, cooked well done and crumbled
A sprinkle of cheese (cheddar, Swiss, or mozzarella)
3 scallions, chopped
1 (9-inch) refrigerated pie crust, fitted to a 9-inch glass pie plate

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Bake pie crust in 9 inch pie plate for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile...

Microwave spinach for 2-3 minutes, then chop. Squeeze spinach in a couple paper towels or a cheese cloth to remove most of the water.

Whisk the eggs, cream, and pepper in a large bowl - really really well!

On the hot pie crust add a sprinkle of cheese (this helps keep the crust from getting soggy), then add the spinach, scallions, and the crumbled bacon.

Pour the egg mixture on top. 

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until the egg mixture is mostly set with a slight jiggle. 

Cut into 8 wedges.

Scones

I had a dream I was drinking black tea and eating a scone. Which must be a sign that I needed to try and make some scones!! Apparently scones are very basic but sound fancy and intimidating.

This was a fantastic basic recipe that could be adapted for many different flavors. You could add different dried fruits. I've included the footnote that is from the All Recipes site.

There are quite a few steps...but don't worry! It really comes together nicely and these scones were elegant, flaky, and so tasty!!

Would I make them again? Yes. Would I only make them on special occasions? Probably. While they weren't a ton of work - they are rather unhealthy with all the butter and sugar and I probably shouldn't eat them all the time!

Scones
Adapted from: All Recipes
Makes 8 scones

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced into tablespoons, very cold right from the fridge

1/2 cup raisins (or dried currants), optional

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 large egg

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In a food processor: mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add sliced butter. Pulse until texture of coarse sand.
• In a small bowl, whisk yogurt and egg until smooth.
• Add wet mix into food processor and pulse until starting to combined.
• Put on the counter, lightly floured, and start to knead. The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.
• Pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. of sugar. 
• Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a Silpat lined cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart. 
• Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.

Footnotes

Cranberry-Orange Scones

Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding a generous teaspoon of finely grated orange rind (zest) to the dry ingredients and substituting dried cranberries for the raisins.

Lemon-Blueberry Scones

Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding a generous teaspoon of finely grated lemon rind (zest) to the dry ingredients and substituting dried blueberries for the raisins.

Cherry-Almond Scones

Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding 1/2 tsp. almond extract to the sour cream mixture and substituting dried cherries for the raisins.

Mom's Best Banana Bread

I forgot to take a picture, luckily my
godmother sent me a picture of her banana
bread bites! This batch was made
with cashews.

Here is an original family recipe which as been passed down for generations! Well, at least one generation. This is mom's incredible banana bread recipe. The recipe below is even formatted and worded the same as how she sent it to me!

This is a hearty, moist, and dense quick bread which means there is no waiting for dough to rise or needing to proof yeast or do anything funky.  Just mix up ingredients, pour into pans, and bake it!

I also learned that banana bread ships easily if you need to mail it anywhere.

Note #1: What does "Prepared and floured" mean? Prepared and floured pans means spray your pans of choice with non-stick spray, then add a tsp or tbsp of flour into it. Tap the pan until the flour coats the edges, corners, and bottom of the pan. This helps the removal process and you really shouldn't skip this step. 

Note #2: How many cups is 4 bananas? Honestly, I have no idea. I made it with about 2 cups of mashed up bananas which was 3 really big bananas. Be sure to mash them really well otherwise the little banana lumps will burst and create a burned mess on the edges of your muffin pan or bottom of the oven.

Note #3: Double this recipe. Seriously, it is awesome and will be eaten far too quickly.

Possible changes that I have done in the past? Add chocolate chips and swap using walnuts or cashews.

Storing the bread is easy, leave it out on the counter over night to let it cool completely before sealing it up into an air tight container. You can leave it at room temperature. I'm not sure how it will stay fresh for because I've never had it any bread left after 3 days.

Enjoy!

Update 1/11/2015 - I subbed almond milk for regular milk. This didn't change the texture of the bread itself but it did change the crisp of the outside of the bread. Normally banana bread has that almost caramelized crunchy crust. The almond milk gave the bread a softer crust, similar to the inside of the bread. Bananas - I had frozen bananas that were going to start go bad. Peel them before freezing. To use them I let them defrost on the counter then when they were getting soft I pureed them in the food processor.For this try I used both walnuts and chocolate chips. I baked it in a 9x9 glass pan for 35 minutes. Yummy!

Banana Bread Recipe

By My Mother

yields: 3 mini loaves (40-45 minutes) OR 18 mini muffins (12 minutes) and 2 mini loaves OR a large loaf (45 minutes) OR 12 Jumbo muffins (22 minutes)

1 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup white + 1/2 cup brown)
1 stick of butter, soft-room temp

2 eggs

¼ c. sour milk (1/4 c. milk + 1 tsp. vinegar) or buttermilk

2 c. flour*

¼ tsp. salt*

½ tsp. baking soda*

1 tsp. baking powder*

4 ripe bananas – well mashed, approx 2 cups

½ -1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
½ -1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F and prepared pans with oil and flour

Cream sugar and butter
Add eggs and blend well
Add sour milk

Add * ingredients on low in mixer
Add bananas and nuts

Pour batter into prepared pans 2/3 deep
Bake until when you test the cake with a toothpick it comes out clean

Swirly Coffee Cake with Greek Yogurt

Here is a coffee cake that you will just adore! It is almost dense enough to be considered pound cake. One of the best parts of this recipe is you can make it ahead of time. A great coffee cake for breakfast or brunch. Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, thanks for another great recipe!

I have tried this recipe before and the dough smelled wonderful! However, I didn't have the proper pan. Using the right pan actually does make a difference. I had used a glass 9x9 baking pan, but the cake is so dense that the middle did not cook in time for the edges to not dry out.

I did make some changes to the recipe. I used 3 large eggs instead of 3 extra large eggs, equal quantity of Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, all purpose flour instead of cake flour, and I semi doubled the streusel topping. I say semi doubled because I didn't think it needed that much extra butter or flour.

Next time I would put more streusel in the middle so it would have a nice swirly line. I used about 1/2 cup I think. I would use closer to a full cup. Its coffee cake! Live a little! :)

I would also consider making it without the streusel and using blueberries and lemon or raspberries in the cake.

Update: 5/28, made this using the sour cream. This was a softer cake compared to the more pound cake texture the Greek yogurt cake. What would I make next time? I don't think you can go wrong either way!

Layer 1

Top layer! I almost forgot to take a picture haha

updated 10/13/2015: This is one of my new baking pans and we have a new camera that I wanted to try out! Below, I halved the amount of cake and kept the amount of streusel the same, delish!

Swirly Coffee Cake

For the cake:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups plain Greek yogurt or Sour Cream
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the streusel: (this is doubled already!)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch pan that has the hole in the middle.

Cream the butter and sugar in the mixer with the paddle attachment for 4 to 5 minutes, until light.

Add the eggs 1 at a time, and then add the vanilla and Greek yogurt.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Finish stirring with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

For the streusel, combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter in your food processor (or in a bowl and mix with your fingers) until it forms a crumble. Mix in walnuts, if desired. 

Pour half the batter into the bottom of the pan, layer with streusel, top with the rest of batter and remaining streusel.

Cook 50-60 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Let cool before removing from pan. Serve at room temperature.