French Toast Casserole

By weavincanuck

Ingredients

• Toppings:
• 1/3 cup (5 Tbs) butter or non-dairy alternative (Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks)
• 2/3 cup brown sugar or coconut palm sugar
• 1 loaf gluten-free sandwich bread or French bread (3-5 days old/stale or thawed from frozen works best)
• 6 eggs (or 1 1/2 cups apple butter, canned pumpkin or mashed bananas)
• 1 1/4 cups soy or coconut nog (note: if using egg substitutes above, add extra 1/4 – 1/2 cup nog to thin the mixture)
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries (optional)
• confectioner’s sugar for dusting (optional)
• pure maple syrup if serving for breakfast
• vanilla yogurt to top (optional) – (So Delicious® Vanilla Coconut Yogurt)

Details

Adapted from blog.julesglutenfree.com

Preparation

Step 1

Melt butter/Buttery Sticks and pour to cover the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle enough brown sugar/coconut palm sugar to cover. Reserve approximately 1/4 cup sugar to sprinkle on top of the casserole before baking.

Slice gluten-free bread 1 inch thick. Lay slices on top of butter/sugar coated dish. The slices may overlap slightly, if necessary.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs/egg substitute, nog, vanilla and spices. Pour over top of the bread-lined pan, evenly coating each slice. Sprinkle remaining sugar, nuts and/or blueberries on top and cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350° F (static) or 325° F (convection).

Remove plastic wrap from the casserole and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Bake for 35 minutes. The bread should have soaked up most of the liquid at this point; if not, remove the foil and bake an additional 5-10 minutes.

Allow the casserole to cool slightly, then serve dusted with confectioner’s sugar, syrup or coconut yogurt.