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Need a delicious and easy breakfast for Easter? Try this Overnight Banana Stuffed French Toast made with Ecce Panis bread! All the prep is done the night before so all you have to do in the morning is bake and eat!
You know what I really dislike about Holiday morning breakfasts? That I have to make them, and try and enjoy the holiday. Meanwhile, my husband and child (and sometimes other family members) relax on the couch, look through their presents or drink coffee and read the newspaper. And me? I’m in the kitchen, cooking, cleaning, and doing dishes.
Don’t get me wrong: I love doing the cooking part. It’s the “up at the crack of dawn go-go-go and watch everyone else relax” thing I don’t like. Which is why I always try to make breakfast on holidays easy, while still being super indulgent. I mean, I can’t exactly serve cold cereal to a house full of relatives, right? And, on the same note, I’m not willing to stand over a hot griddle for an hour flipping pancakes when I could be relaxing and enjoying the fun everyone else is having.
Enter: baked french toast. Or, better yet: Overnight baked french toast. It’s perfect for your Easter brunch because it’s so easy – and it’s almost all done ahead of time!
Thanks to my work with Collective Bias, I was recently able to try Ecce Panis Bread (from Walmart) and incorporate it into an Easter meal. I love bread. Like, love it I want to marry it. If I could only bring three food items to a deserted island they would be: pie, chocolate, and bread.
When I brought home my bread (I chose the Neo-Tuscan Boule, but EccePanis has all sorts of versions: baguettes, dinner rolls, and ciabatta) I knew I was going to make overnight french toast with it. I’ve seen versions of this all over blogland, but I’ve never made it. Jordan loves french toast and it’s one of those things that I love to eat, but don’t love to make. All that dipping and frying and waiting. If you knew what I was like in the morning, you’d know that “patient” is not a word to describe me before my first (or second) cup of coffee.
I decided to not only make overnight french toast, but to stuff it with something. I’ve seen versions of stuffed french toast made the regular way, but I wanted to stuff it and overnight it. So I did!
This version of stuffed french toast is made with bananas. A mixture of banana, sugar, and cream cheese is stuffed inside slices of Ecce Panis bread. (You make sandwiches with the bread and the banana mixture, then slice it into chunks). You place all your bread chunks in your baking dish, and then you pour an egg/milk mixture over the top. I added sugar and some hazelnut extract to my egg mixture, but you can use vanilla (or even almond) extract instead. The pan of bread and egg sits overnight in the refrigerator, and then the next morning you just sprinkle on the topping (sugar and nuts) and bake. That’s all there is to it! No more slaving over a hot stove on Easter morning, when your kids are begging to do an egg hunt.
Oh, and one more thing. I made the Best. Syrup. EVER: Banana Maple Syrup.
This syrup – really there are no words. It’s sliced bananas, cooked with a little butter and brown sugar, then blended with maple or pancake syrup. It is amazing. It takes the Banana Stuffed French Toast over the top with sweet banana flavor.
Seriously, I could have put a straw in that jar. I have some syrup left over and I’m going to coat every single breakfast in it until it’s gone.
Seriously, this is the easiest and one of the best breakfasts ever. It’s perfect for Easter, or any holiday (or a random Sunday). I think that picture speaks for itself, what do you think?
Overnight Banana Stuffed French Toast
Ingredients
For the French Toast:
- 2 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 overripe banana
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 16 ounces crusty bread I used two 8-ounce mini boules, best if it’s day-old
- 1 teaspoon hazelnut extract optional - you can use vanilla
- 7 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups half and half
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the Topping:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup chopped nuts pecans or walnuts, optional
For the Banana Maple Syrup
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 bananas sliced
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 cup maple syrup
Instructions
- Place banana and cream cheese in a medium sized bowl. Mash together with a fork. Add the granulated sugar and stir with a spoon until combined.
- Slice your bread into 1” slices (I got 12 total slices from my two boules). Spread banana mixture on half of the slices, and top with the remaining bread to make sandwiches. Slice into chunks (I cut the sandwiches longwise and then into small chunks, about 10 total per sandwich).
- Spray a 9”x13” pan with cooking spray. Place bread into pan in an even layer. If you happened to have any banana mixture left over, just pour it over the top.
- In a large bowl, whisk your eggs. Add half-and-half, milk, brown sugar, salt and vanilla and whisk until everything is mixed. Pour over bread in pan. Press down with your hands as needed to make sure the egg mixture gets over all the bread. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator overnight.
- Place topping ingredients in a small baggie, so it's ready for you the next morning.
- When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove french toast from refrigerator and remove plastic wrap. Sprinkle topping over the top and bake for about 50 minutes. You want it to be hot all the way through, and the bread to be browned on the top and smooshy in the middle, but not raw. It may take up to 60 minutes. Let sit for 5-10 before scooping.
- To make the syrup: melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add sliced bananas and brown sugar and cook for 1 minute. Add maple syrup and cook for 30 seconds, remove from heat.
- Pour into a blender and blend until smooth. (Be sure to leave the lid askew on your blender when blending hot liquid or it will explode!) Pour into a jar or tupperware container and cool. Serve with pancakes and store in refrigerator.
Recipe Nutrition
Click here for easy ways to use overripe BANANAS
And the best part is I only used two boules, so I had one left over. Excuse me, I’ll be on my deserted island eating my weight in bread.
Enjoy!
Other yummy breakfasts:
Peanut Butter Muffins stuffed with Mini Cadbury Eggs
Sweets from friends:
Apple Cake with Streusel by Nifty Thrifty Things
Banana Bread Cinnamon Rolls by The Spiffy Cookie
Carrot Cake Monkey Bread by Something Swanky
Overnight French Toast Souffle by Chef in Training
This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Ecce Panis #EccePanis #cbias #SocialFabric All opinions are 100% my own.
Made this twice before…..I would cheat on any diet for this breakfast! I would like to know if anyone has ever used the freezer to hold it over? I have all of the stuff to make it now, but not enough people to eat it.