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***UPDATED DECEMBER 2023*** I have been making this amazing Overnight Strawberry and Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast for nearly 20 years. It is our Christmas morning tradition and is beloved by us all! It features a caramel mixture that coats the bottom of the pan, a strawberry cream cheese filling and berries and whipped cream on top. You assemble it the night before and then let it hang out in the fridge overnight, making it the perfect Christmas morning breakfast. I just pop it in the oven to bake while we open presents. Usually by the time we are done, so is this tasty french toast.
Hope you get a chance to try it!
Let me show you how to make it happen.
1. Combine the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and pour the mixture into the bottom. Spread it around with a rubber spatula, making sure the bottom of the pan gets nice and coated.
2. Slice up your bread. You want the pieces to be about 1/2 inch thick and lay them out evenly over the top of the brown sugar mixture. You want to make sure they touch each other, but don’t overlap.
3. In a separate bowl combine the cream cheese, egg, sugar and strawberry jam. Beat with hand held beaters (or in your stand mixer) until nice and smooth.
Pour it right over the top of the bread.
4. Layer more bread over the top of the cream cheese filling.
5. In another bowl, combine the eggs, milk and salt. Whisk them around until well combined.
Pour over the top of the bread.
6. Sprinkle the top of the bread with some cinnamon.
7. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
8. Bake in the morning at 350. Depending on how quickly your oven cooks, and how cold you keep your fridge you will need to bake it for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. It needs to soak up all of the egg and milk juice, and have time to caramelize along the bottom. Take the foil off for the last 15 minutes of cooking.
12. Serve with fresh strawberries (or frozen berries that have been thawed), powdered sugar and whipped cream.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
- CARAMEL LAYER:
- 1/2 C melted butter
- 3/4 C brown sugar
- 1/2 C corn syrup
- 1 loaf french bread
- CREAM CHEESE LAYER:
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/3 C sugar
- 1/2 C strawberry jam
- EGG and MILK LAYER:
- 8 eggs
- 1 C milk
- dash salt
- cinnamon
- Fresh Strawberries or frozen berries that have been thawed to room temperature
- Powdered sugar and Whipped cream (from the can is fine)
Instructions
1. Combine the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup.
2. Slice up your bread. You want the pieces to be about 1/2 inch thick.
3. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Pour the butter/brown sugar mixture in the bottom of the pan.
4. Smooth it all out, so it covers the bottom entirely.
5. Lay half of the bread slices on top of the buttery brown sugar, making sure they touch each other, but don't overlap.
6. In a separate bowl combine the cream cheese, egg, sugar and strawberry jam. Beat with hand held beaters (or in your stand mixer) until nice and smooth. Pour it right over the top of the bread.
7. Layer the remaining bread over the top of the cream cheese filling.
8. In another bowl, combine the eggs, milk and salt. Whisk them around until well combined. Pour over the top of the bread.
9. Sprinkle the top of the bread with some cinnamon.
10. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
11. Bake in the morning at 350. Depending on how quickly your oven cooks, and how cold you keep your fridge you will need to bake it for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. It needs to soak up all of the egg and milk juice, and have time to caramelize along the bottom. Take the foil off for the last 15 minutes of cooking.
12. Serve with berries, powdered sugar and whipped cream.
Enjoy!
Recipe from my wonderful sister, Alli Bahr
Jamie, do you use store bought french bread or your homemade recipe?
Hi Kim,
So sorry it has taken me so long to respond. I have only used store purchased bread for this recipe in the past. I think it would be great with my homemade French Bread…just haven't ever done it quite yet. Let me know if you try it and how it turns out! Hope you have a great holiday, Kim!
~Jamie
um, yum?! I'm posting on my blog so my friends can see with a link to this page. You're amazing! Can't wait to try!
It is so good made it 2 times already!!!
This sounds so- amazing! I began printing it after only reading the title and before looking at the rest of it. Now that I've read it all I'm even more excited to try it. Thanks!
Thank you for an amazing recipe! I made this for brunch this morning. Great way to start the new year! I used cream with the eggs and added a splash of vanilla to both the cream cheese and the eggs. Also added orange zest to the cream cheese and skipped the sugar, actually, I forgot it. Thankfully, it wasn't missed. Top was crispy and nothing was soggy! DELICIOUS!
Thank for this recipe. This recipe has now become a Mother's Day brunch tradition. I love that it's simple to make (and most of the work is the night before), makes a lot, and is so delicious! We have several kids in our group so in addition to the fresh strawberries we also offer strawberry syrup and whipped cream. Yum!
We had this for breakfast this morning as we sent my BIL off on the rest of his road trip. It was delicious! I might save it for a lazy vacation morning next time, getting up at 5:00 to put breakfast in the oven wasn’t my best idea. (Then I went back to sleep) Not that I’m sleeping much with 3 weeks before this baby arrives. Thanks for the recipe!