Ya’ll, this french toast is heavenly. There is no other way to describe it. The top is crunchy and the inside is gooey and delicious. The best part is, there is minimal work involved and you can make it the night before! Or if you’re like me and love breakfast for dinner, you can make it before work in the morning!
Baking french toast is much easier than standing in front of a griddle for 30 minutes dipping and frying. The addition of lemon and raspberry also work well together in this recipe. I love tart fruit flavors combined with sweet things. It helps balance the sweetness out!
I baked this french toast in a Cast Iron Enameled baking dish that Carolina Cooker gave me. I love this dish because the cast iron provides even heating and not to mention – the red enamel is beautiful! It’s much prettier to serve to guests in this pan versus the other basic glass casserole dishes I have.
We basically survived on casseroles growing up, so having a good dish to bake them in is essential. It’s super easy to clean, very affordable, and it has a really unique look.
This enameled cast iron does not need any type of seasoning care and it’s safe in the oven up to 400 degrees. If you’d like to check out this dish and their other enameled products, here’s the link below. They just launched a new website where you can read all about their products and purchase them if you’d like, so check it out!
http://www.carolinacooker.com/cast-iron-cookware.php
The process for this french toast is pretty easy and straightforward. My bread of choice is store-bought Challah bread. Challah is a great bread for french toast because you need something sturdy and dense to soak up all of the liquid. If you can’t find Challah bread, you can use Sourdough or Brioche as an alternative!
Mix together your wet ingredients with a whisk and set aside.
Next, I cube up the bread into one inch pieces with a serrated bread knife, spread half of the bread into the bottom of the dish, then a 6 oz package of fresh raspberries.
Top that with the other half of the cubed bread and pour over the wet ingredients. Sprinkle with a little sugar and you’ve already finished the hard part! Pop that baby in the fridge to soak up all the custard goodness and take it out when you’re ready to bake!
I think this french toast turns out better if you leave it to refrigerate for 8+ hours. You can bake it after 1 hour if you’re in a rush though. It does have a pretty lengthy bake time, so keep that in mind as well! While the french toast is cooking, you can mix together the lemon cream cheese glaze.
The french toast is done baking when the top is browned and you can see the bottom puffed up. If you notice it’s browning too much, cover the pan in foil for the remainder of the bake time. It’s ready when the custard is set, so keep an eye on the middle of the dish because that’s the last part to cook – I had to bake this for an hour and 10 minutes to make sure the egg custard was cooked in the middle. No one wants raw french toast!
Isn’t this gorgeous already!?! When I’m ready to serve this, I top it with dusted powdered sugar, lemon zest, and a few more fresh raspberries. I don’t pour on the lemon cream cheese glaze until I serve each individual portion. That way, if I have leftovers, I can pop the dish back in the oven to bake without it being a soggy mess.
I wish I could eat this every day for breakfast, it’s that good! I would definitely prefer this to regular griddle french toast. Hope you love it as much as I do!
Raspberry Lemon Overnight French Toast
Ingredients
- 8 large eggs
- 2 cups half and half
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- zest of one large lemon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 8 cups Challah bread, cubed into one-inch pieces
- 6 oz fresh raspberries
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- additional lemon zest and powdered sugar for dusting
For the Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 4 oz cream cheese, room temp
- juice of one large lemon
Instructions
- In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, half and half, both sugars, both extracts, lemon zest, and spices. Set aside.
- Spread half of the cubed bread into the bottom of a buttered casserole dish. Top with all of the raspberries except a few for decoration at the end if you'd like.
- Top the raspberry layer with the rest of the cubed bread. Pour the liquid mixture over top the bread. Dust with 2 tbsp. of granulated sugar, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
- When you're ready to bake, bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Check at 45 minutes and if it is browning too much, cover with foil. Remove from the oven when the custard is set and the french toast is brown on top and the interior puffed up.
- While the french toast is baking, use a hand mixer to mix all ingredients for the glaze. Set aside.
- Let the french toast cool for 5-10 minutes, dust with powdered sugar, lemon zest, and any reserved fresh raspberries. Serve hot with lemon cream cheese glaze on top.
