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Here’s a special breakfast that is always a hit. Its easy to make, and most of the prep is done the night before. Pop it in the oven, make a warm berry syrup to go on top, and you have something really special. Berry syrup is really easy to make, and so good, I’m sure you’ll be happy you made it.
About 10 years ago, I was working for a multi-billion dollar consumer products company that had a wellness initiative. Once a quarter, everyone would get a little magazine with health tips and a few “healthy” recipes…… Ha! My dad lived to 89 and my mom is still kickin’ at 91. I ‘m going to enjoy life while I can.
I found the basis for this recipe in the magazine one spring, and adapted it to use whole eggs instead of egg whites, and “real” cream cheese instead of no-fat cream cheese. I actually like it with 2% milk instead of the skim milk that was originally specified.
This week, we decided to make it again. Where’s the recipe? Can’t find it. OK, well then we’ll make it from memory. So here it is:
Ingredients:
4 – 6 slices of “country style” thick white bread – depending on size, you use as much as will fit in a glass 9x13x2 baking dish.
Cream cheese – about 12 oz.
2 cups 2% milk
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp almond extract
½ tsp salt
Instructions:
Cut the bread slices in half, as if they are the halves of a sandwich. Spread the cream cheese on them generously. Coat your baking dish with cooking spray, then lay the bread, cream cheese side up, in the dish.
Whisk the milk, sugar, almond extract, and salt in a bowl – then pour over the bread. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.
To cook :
Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and cook the casserole for about 30 minutes, or until the edges of the bread are starting to crisp just a little. Top with warm berry syrup and enjoy!
Berry Syrup:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp corn starch dissolved in 2 Tbsp water
1 pint of blueberries (you can use any berry you like – I prefer raspberries, but sometimes I make both syrups so guests have a choice)
2 Tbsp butter
¼ tsp salt
Combine water, salt, and sugar, and bring to a rolling boil over high heat stirring frequently. Add the berries and reduce the heat to medium. Cook, stirring constantly for a few minutes until the syrup turns the color of the berries and the berries start to disintegrate. Add the cornstarch mixture, stirring constantly. As soon as the syrup is nice and thick, take it off the heat and add the butter. Stir until the butter is melted. Serve with the French toast.
Your Daily Bread
John 6:35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
