Blueberry Stuffed French toast takes a little longer than your regular French toast but it is so worth it!

Fresh blueberries go great with french toast — and this “make ahead” recipe combines both in a delicious breakfast treat. I say this is a “make ahead” recipe because you actually need to start it the night before you intend to serve it.

You also need some “day old bread”, so that means you actually will need to get at least a 24 hour jump start on this recipe — but the wait is so worth it!

Blueberry stuffed French toast calls for 12 slices of “day old” bread — this means stale bread. It didn’t specify what kind of bread, so I actually used egg bread, but you can use pretty much anything so long as it is thick when you cut it up. I got an unsliced loaf from my local grocery store, so I guessed and sliced up half the loaf as my 12 slices. I cut the section into cubes and left it out overnight to get that nice “stale” feeling. If you’re in a hurry, turn your oven on to 200°F and put the bread cubes in there for about 30 minutes to dry them out.

The recipe also didn’t specify the size or kind of pan you were to use to “marinate” and bake, so I chose a pyrex 13″x 9″x 21″ dish, which ended up being just about perfect.

My suggestion is to serve this warm out of the oven. That means you need to begin working on the topping about 15 – 20 minutes before you are set to pull the baking dish out of the oven.

Pop the French Toast out of the oven, slice it up, plate it, and drizzle the blueberry sauce on top. Add bacon or fresh fruit, and you will have a great Sunday Brunch item that will make everyone smile!

Yield:

Blueberry Stuffed French Toast

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This recipe takes a little longer than your usual french toast, but it is sooooo worth it!

Ingredients

• 12 slices day-old bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (I used egg bread, but I would suggest challah for best results)
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 12 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups milk (I used 2%)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or extract)
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 tablespoon butter (if desired)

Instructions

1. For "day old" bread, slice bread into cubes, place in large bowl, and allow to "stale" overnight

Night before:

1. Rinse blueberries and set aside to dry
2. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. (I used glass Pyrex)
3. Arrange half the stale bread cubes in the dish, and top with cream cheese cubes.
4. Sprinkle 1 cup blueberries over the cream cheese, and top with remaining bread cubes.
5. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and syrup until combined.
6. Pour over the bread cubes and blueberries in the baking dish.
7. Cover, and refrigerate overnight.

The morning you want to serve:

1. Approximately 30 minutes before you are ready to bake, remove the bread cube mixture from the refrigerator and allow to "un-cool".
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake 30 minutes.
4. After 30 minutes, uncover the dish and continue baking 25 to 30 minutes, until center is firm and surface is lightly browned.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5 minutes before cutting to serve.

Blueberry topping:

1. Approximately 20 minutes before removing the French Toast from the oven, begin making the blueberry topping.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, mix the sugar, cornstarch, and water.
3. Bring to a boil and cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Mix in the remaining 1 cup blueberries and reduce heat
5. Simmer 10 minutes, until the blueberries burst.
6. You can stir in butter just before pouring over the finished French Toast, however I didn't add it to mine. 
7. Pour over finished French Toast, or provide on the side and allow each person to pour as much as they want over their serving.

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