Cookin’ from the Pantry

After the whirlwind of Friday and Saturday, I completely forgot that I signed up to bring breakfast for our small group at church. When I was reminded that evening, the last thing I wanted to do was go to the store. So I made this with things we had on hand.

Blueberries and Cream French Toast Casserole

4 cups cubed bread (I used Sister Shubert dinner rolls)

1 to 1.5 cups blueberries (mine were fresh frozen)

4 eggs

3/4 c milk or coffee creamer (the boys had finished off the milk)

1/3 c maple syrup

2 T butter melted

4 oz cream cheese

Cinnamon (about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp)

Spray a small 9×7 pan and heat oven to 350. Mix eggs, milk or cream, syrup and butter in a bowl. Place half of bread cubes in the bottom of pan. Pour half of egg mixture over the top of bread and give it a little press to help it soak in. Top with blueberries. Give the blueberries a generous sprinkling with cinnamon. Cut cream cheese into small cubes and place on top of blueberries (I like mine pretty small, because I don’t want to bite into a big hunk of cream cheese). Top with remaining bread the pour over remaining egg mixture. Now, I’m pretty sure you could make this the night before and it would be even better, because all that yummy egg mixture would have even more time to soak in. But I don’t really think ahead like that all the time. So I left this on the counter while I took a shower and let it soak in. Then bake it covered in the oven for 30 min. Uncover, and bake an additional 20-30 min.

It has a consistency like bread pudding, and the cream cheese is such a nice complement to the blueberries and balances the sweetness. The folks at church thought this was pretty tasty, and I’m looking forward to polishing it off this morning.
Kathy Rowland, Pharmacist by trade, but Chef by Heart! She blogs about her family, preschool boys, and adventures in life, over at The Rowland Boys.