What do you do on Christmas morning? Do you sleep in? (Not if you have kids, you don’t.) Do you plan a huge breakfast? Do you eat Toaster Strudels because you’re too busy doing other stuff to think about cooking breakfast? Either way, I’ve got you covered today. If you hate spending Christmas morning cooking, this dish is prepared the night before – before you start assembling all the, “some assembly required” toys that will take approximately 4 hours of what would otherwise be your precious slumber.
But, if you LOVE cooking then this dish is great for you too – because it can cook in the crock while you prepare other things…like scrambled eggs, bacon, and hot cocoa. And while the kids make sure to ask you approximately 1.5 million times if you’re finished yet. Oh wait – maybe I was the only person to ever do that.
This dish is a great indulgence for Christmas morning – or an indulgence for any morning. Because hey, we should celebrate regularly with French Toast, right? I think that’s in the Constitution. Except this is a French dish, so that doesn’t hold water. Unless, like other foods, this dish isn’t French at all – like French Fry or French Onion. Things that make you go hmmmmm.
I used homemade bread for this – but you can use whatever bread you desire. Just make sure it’s “day old” bread. It needs to be a bit dry to soak up the liquid. Speaking of, I think the term “day old” is dumb. It can be 4, 5, or 6 days old for all I care. Instead, let’s call it “almost ready to mold” bread. No…that doesn’t sound good either. Let’s stick with Day Old.
Have you ever noticed that I’m a little heavy on the dairy? I didn’t realize it until someone mentioned it to me – almost all of my recipes call for some form of dairy. I could apologize, but I wouldn’t mean it. And really, one should never apologize if they don’t mean it.
Anyway, if you’re not heavy on the dairy, like me, you can substitute dairy-free things…like almond milk or coconut milk. Except, I’m not sure what’s a dairy-free alternative for cream cheese. And don’t leave that out of this dish because that might be sacrilegious. Soooooooooooo, I got nuttin’ for ya with that one. Please leave comments about dairy-free forms of cream cheese. Thank you!
I like this recipe because it uses stuff I keep on hand all the time – so I can make it any time I want. Which is a lot…because really, one should always want French Toast a lot. Especially Crock Pot French Toast, which is like the best of both worlds.
I used frozen fruit – but you can use fresh fruit if you like. Around this time of year, about the only fresh fruits I have are bananas, oranges, and apples. And those didn’t appeal to me for a stuffed French Toast – so…mixed berries it is! I am a very decisive person.
Make this up during the evening before it gets crazy up in there. It needs to soak around 8 hours, but the world won’t stop turning if it soaks 10+ hours. It won’t explode or turn into mushy nothingness. So, prep when you can and let it stand in the fridge until it’s time to crock it.
Crock and roll, baby!
When this is done, it will still be nice and moist because of the frozen berries. And that’s good, because no one wants French Toast that’s dry as the Sahara. That takes way too much maple syrup to fix and I’m cheapo. You just want to make sure it’s set in the middle – remember, it should still be moist if you stick a knife down in the center.
When in doubt, just scoop some out of the center and check for doneness (did you know doneness was a word?!). If it’s not done, put it back in and cook another 30 minutes and check again. While it’s cooking, open presents and eat chocolate from your stocking…but not too much chocolate because you need room for French Toast – but really, is there a thing as too much chocolate?
Serve this nice and hot with a side of scrambled eggs – and hot maple syrup. See! An easy Christmas morning breakfast, straight from the crock. God bless us, every one.
Crock Pot Stuffed French Toast
- 8 cups cubed day-old bread
- 8 ounces cream cheese, cubed
- 2 cups frozen berries (I like a mixed blend – you could use any frozen fruit you desire)
- 7 eggs
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 1/3 cup sugar (I use coconut sugar)
- 1/3 cup plain yogurt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon maple extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Maple syrup
- Sprinkle half of bread cubes in the bottom of a greased 5 quart crock.
- Layer with half of berries and cream cheese. Repeat layers.
- Combine eggs, milk, sugar, yogurt, extracts, and cinnamon. Whisk well.
- Pour egg mixture over all and press down with spatula to coat all of the pieces of bread.
- Refrigerate overnight.
- Cook on HIGH for 2-3 hours or until set in the middle. Scoop some out of the middle to check for doneness – if not done, return to crock and cook another 30 minutes. Check again. Will still be very moist because of the berries.
- Serve hot with maple syrup.
Yield: 8 servings
Have you made this without the berries? Would it need any adjusting?
No, I haven’t, but it should work the same.
Congratulations Stacy!
Your recipe is featured on Full Plate Thursday this week. Have a great weekend and enjoy your new Red Plate!
Miz Helen
THANKS!
Love it! We decided to feature it this week on Simple Meals Friday! Happy New Year!! 🙂
Wonderful…thanks!
WoW, that looks amazing! Thanks for sharing-Andrea @ scrapality.com
I’ve seen all kinds of recipes for the crock pot, but not for French toast…I love it!
Hi Stacy. I’m hopping over from Let’s Get Real today. Although I missed this recipe for Christmas, I still have New Years’ Day. I will feel even less like cooking then. I can’t wait to give it a try.
This sounds so yummy!!! I am going to make this but have a question. Could I use Ezekiel bread right out of the freezer and just cut it up and throw it in? It seems like it is a little dry anyway, but I wanted to ask your opinion. Thanks.
Sure, that should work just fine!
Stacy, I finally got my crockpot!!! I cannot wait to crock and roll and I will definitely be trying this recipe on Christmas day. All the best to you and your family!
I reeeeally don’t want to get up 2-3 hours before we eat breakfast. 🙂 Any reason I can’t put it in the crockpot on low right before bed, with the delayed start set? Maybe 4-5 hours on low?
It has eggs so I wouldn’t do that.
Daiya makes a dairy free cream cheese. Used it in some desserts for thanksgiving and it was yummy. Also used the one with chives as a chip dip.
Stacy, Tofutti makes a delish non-dairy cream cheese! http://www.tofutti.com/dairy-free-cheeses/cream-cheese/
Stacy, Is there a way this can be turned on the night before on low, then be ready when we get up? Or would it be too soggy?
I’m not really sure since I’ve not tried it. If you do give it try, let us know how it goes!
This looks delish! I might would call it Breakfast Bread Pudding as this is almost exactly how I make my bread pudding LOL!
I haven’t made it yet, but I’ve seen recipes for creme-y cheese spreads using soaked ground cashews. I have been investigating for holiday goodness replacements myself.
What do we do on Christmas morning? Sleep a little late after our little girl’s late bedtime from Christmas Eve services. We can do this also because we don’t exchange our gifts until January 6, Epiphany. It’s when celebrate when Jesus got his presents when the Wise Men arrived. It’s another way we try to separate from the Christmas rush and slow down and make Christmas about Jesus’ birthday.
How is doneness determined? This sonds great!
It will be “firm” – it won’t be jiggly, etc. 🙂
If people need dairy-free I recommend Daiya cream cheese because it is soy-free. I haven’t tasted it but the preschooler liked it on banana bread. And then I’d recommend so delicious coconut milk yogurt. So this recipe could be done dairy-free! I unfortunately won’t be making it as my preschooler is also egg-free. But I am drooling!
Would soft goat cheese work to substitute for cream cheese? It’s a thought.