Baked Blueberry-Pecan French Toast

By stancec44

A gorgeous way to serve breakfast as a casserole, this French toast comes out warm from the oven with sweet blueberries and pecans atop sliced Italian bread.

Ingredients

• Butter
• 12 12
• ounces Italian bread, cut into 6 to 8 slices (each about 1 inch thick)
• 5 5
• eggs, beaten
• 2 1/2 2 1/2
• cups milk, half-and-half, or light cream
• 2/3 2/3
• cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1
• teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 1/2
• teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 2
• cups fresh blueberries
• 1 1
• cup coarsely chopped pecans
• 1/4 1/4
• cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 1/4
• cup butter, melted
• Powdered sugar
• 1 1
• cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 1/2
• cup pure maple syrup
• 1 1
• tablespoon lemon juice

Details

Servings 6
Adapted from bhg.com

Preparation

Step 1

Butter a 3-quart rectangular baking dish. Arrange bread slices in dish, overlapping if necessary.
In a large bowl combine eggs, milk, the 2/3 cup brown sugar, the vanilla, and nutmeg. Slowly pour egg mixture evenly over bread. Press lightly with a rubber spatula or the back of a large spoon to moisten bread. Cover; chill for 8 to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Evenly sprinkle the 2 cups blueberries and the pecans over bread mixture. In a small bowl stir together the 1/4 cup brown sugar and the 1/4 cup melted butter. Drizzle butter mixture over pecans.

Bake, uncovered, for 35 to 40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Meanwhile, for blueberry syrup, in a small saucepan combine the 1 cup blueberries and the maple syrup; cook and stir over medium heat about 3 minutes or until blueberries have burst. Pour syrup through a sieve into a heatproof pitcher, pressing juice out of blueberries. Stir in lemon juice.

MAKE-AHEAD TIP: The blueberry syrup may be made up to 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate; reheat before serving.