Christmas Breakfast

Although my family has many Christmas traditions we have never had a specific breakfast on Christmas morning.  We have specific Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners, and lunch is generally snacking.  Christmas breakfast has always been something hot and sweet.  We always eat after we open gifts, but it has changed from pancakes to waffles, to donuts, basically anything goes.  This year I made us baked french toast.  It was delicious and easy to make anywhere in the world that I have lived, so I thought I'd share it here.

Baked French Toast (Family of 6)

2 large Baguettes
14 Eggs
1 carton (1 Liter) Milk
1 Tbs Vanilla Extract (Or any extract you prefer.  It would also be good with almond or orange for example)
Cinnamon (to taste)
Cloves (to taste)
Nutmeg (to taste)

2 Casserole dishes
Mixing bowl
Mixing spoon
Bread knife

The first thing you want to do is make sure the bread is stale.  That's right, stale bread.  You are going to make something similar to a bread pudding, so leave the baguettes out for a few days until they are hard.

Cut the baguettes into slices about 1 inch or 1 1/2 inches thick.  For presentation purposes and easy portioning it is best to use round slices. I don't use the end pieces simply because they do not look as pretty, but if you wanted to you could use the ends or cut the bread into cubes.  Take those slices and lay them side by side in your casserole dish.

 

In a mixing bowl crack and scramble all 14 eggs.  Mix in the vanilla extract, or any other desired extract.  Mix in spices.  Add carton of milk.  Mix all ingredients together.

 

Pour half of mixture over each casserole.  Make sure to put mixture over each piece of bread.  Let sit for a moment, then flip each piece of bread over.  This just makes sure that all the pieces are soaked through with the mixture.  This is what adds the moisture back into the bread and makes it tasty. This is what the casserole should look like:

These are the spices I used this time around.  I have made this casserole with only extract and cinnamon.  It worked just as well, but I thought since this was Christmas breakfast I should add the cloves and nutmeg.

 

I add an extra layer of cinnamon over the soaking casserole.  Then cover this and let it sit in the refrigerator over night.  This is very important.  This is what gives the french toast the custard-like center.

 

In the morning, while we were all opening gifts I baked the french toast covered with foil for about an hour, then uncovered, to make it slightly crispy on the outside, for about 20 minutes.  I baked it at 180 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

I served it with butter and maple syrup. 

So that was our Christmas breakfast.  It was very simple and took about 10 minutes to prepare the night before, then in the morning it was no hassle.  I only checked on it once, and did not have to worry about it while we were around the Christmas tree.  Everyone loved it and everyone was satisfied with the amount they chose to eat.