French toast has got to be one of my favorite breakfast dishes. The problem is I am horrible at making it. I blame my mother, her and I just didn’t inherent the french toast making genes. My grandma on the other hand knows what she’s doing. My childhood memories are filled with images of waking up to the smell of french toast at her house.
Her secret? Orange juice. Brilliant! However, it also has to do with technique. Thankfully, this recipe I found in Food Network’s Magazine doesn’t take much technique or concentration, the oven does that for you!
So what could make french toast you don’t have to pan fry even better? Croissants. Mmm, I love croissants. Do you? Well, you will after this.
I adapted this recipe to work with my busy I have kids that want to eat now schedule. So the night before, whisk up the ingredients and poor them over four smooshed croissants. For your information, I do consider smooshed a word.
Place a plate over the croissants to further smoosh them then cover the dish and place it in the refrigerator overnight or as little as thirty minutes. The next morning, preheat your oven to 350 degrees then bake, covered, for forty to forty-five minutes. Now this is where it gets interesting; uncover, pour course sugar over the top and broil for one to two minutes.
Trust me when I saw it is delicious. Syrup is totally optional. The broiled sugar on top is not.
Baked Croissant French Toast
adapted from Food Network Magazine, April 2013
4 croissants
3 large eggs
1/4 cup white sugar
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon course sugar
Put the croissants in a 8 inch square dish or baking dish of equivalent size, squeezing them together to have them fit in one layer.
Whisk together eggs, white sugar, milk, orange juice, vanilla and cinnamon and pour over croissants. Place a plate on top of the croissants, cover and refrigerator overnight or as little as 30 minutes.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove plate from baking dish and recover croissants. Bake until set, about 40 to 45 minutes.
Remove from oven and set oven to broil. Sprinkle addition sugar on top of baked croissants, return to oven and broil until the sugar is bubbling, about 1 to 2 minutes.
