Pumpkin French Toast Bake

I've decided I want to make this for my birthday breakfast come October! I love bread pudding, so adding pumpkin is just icing on the cake...or, pudding on the bread. :D

 

 

Pumpkin French Toast Bake

Prep time                       Cook time                 Total time                           Serves: 10

10 hours 10 mins          40 mins                     10 hours 50 mins

Sweet and spicy pumpkin french toast is made the night before for an easy, early-morning preparation.

 

Ingredients

• 5 1/2 – 7 1/2 cups 1-inch bread cubes (depending on type of bread)*
• 7 large eggs
• 2 cups milk (any kind)*
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup pumpkin BUTTER (or 1/2 cup pumpkin puree)*
• 3-4 tablespoons brown sugar for topping
• nuts, like pecan or walnuts (optional)

 

Instructions

1. Cut any kind of bread into 1-inch cubes – I recommend a crusty, whole grain variety, but sandwich bread will work, too. Just use enough slice to fill a lightly greased 9×13 baking dish quite full.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, pumpkin butter and pie spice until well combined. Pour over bread and push down with a spoon or your hands until it’s all soaked and mostly covered. Cover with saran wrap or lid and refrigerate overnight.
3. In the morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees, uncover and top with brown sugar, additional pumpkin pie spice and nuts (optional). Bake for 35-45 minutes or golden brown and no longer wet.
4. Serve immediately with maple syrup, honey or agave nectar. Store leftovers in the refrigerator covered for up to a couple days.

 

Notes

* For the bread cubes, just use as much bread as it takes to fill the bottom of your dish generously, plus up about 1 to 1.5 inches. If you’ve added too much to soak up the liquid, just remove some. And if it looks too wet, add some more bread.
* I HIGHLY recommend using pumpkin butter as it has a concentrated pumpkin flavor and is much sweeter than puree. But if using puree instead of butter, it’s important to compensate the flavor by adding a bit more puree, pumpkin pie spice, and a little agave nectar, brown sugar or maple syrup to the batter. Otherwise, it will lack that delicious fall, pumpkin flavor you’re going for.
* I used 2%, but use skim or low-fat for a lighter recipe. Alternatively, use non-dairy such as soy or almond.

* Some commenters have tried this recipe and varied the amount of pumpkin butter or bread they used for a better result. Because different breads can have different levels of sponginess and the pumpkin butter can vary in taste if it’s store bought or homemade, play with this recipe and make it your own! If you need more bread cubes, add more. And do the same with pumpkin butter.

 

 

For the printable version, click here.

 

 

Enjoy and happy cooking!

~ Katie