A delicious breakfast with blueberries, cream cheese and a hint of lemon!
We were lucky enough to get to spend some time at the beach in Ventura, California last week. We met up with my husbands family and it was so good to be together. It had been a while since we were all able to be in the same place. One brother lives in North Carolina and the other in Ohio & my in-laws are in Utah. We are spread all over! So it was about time we had a reunion of sorts. Long days on the beach, lots of yummy food and card games at night! I just love beach week!
Anyways, I had good intentions of having some posts ready for when I was out of town but time got away from me. I’ve got a bunch of great recipes I can’t wait to share! I just can’t stop with the lemon blueberry combo. It’s too good! I also love a recipe that I can prep the night before. This was very easy to make and then in the morning I just set it out, heated my oven and baked it! This would be great for company or brunch or just because!
I only used 4 ounces of cream cheese but next time I may just use the whole 8 ounces cause I love cream cheese.
Overnight Blueberry French Toast
Author: Adell Goff
Serves: 8x8
Ingredients
- FOR THE FRENCH TOAST:
- 8 ounces day old french bread or 6 slices texas toast bread*
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- ¾ cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
- zest from one lemon (optional)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 6 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup cream
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- FOR THE SAUCE:
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2-1/4 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 Tablespoons water
Instructions
- FOR THE FRENCH TOAST: Spray an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray. Slice your bread (and remove crust if you prefer) Then cut into 1" cubes. Spread half of them in the pan. Cube the cream cheese into small cubes (the smaller the better). Sprinkle the cream cheese over the bread cubes. Then sprinkle on the blueberries.
- Mix the zest of one lemon with 1 Tablespoon of sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the blueberries and cream cheese. Top with the remaining bread cubes.
- In a bowl, whip together the eggs, milk, cream & maple syrup. Pour over the bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight (or 8 hours).
- Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and set the dish out on the counter to come to room temperature (about 15-30 min.) Bake covered for 30 minutes, and then uncovered for 20-25 minutes more (or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean).
- FOR THE SAUCE: In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice and cornstarch, then set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, combine the blueberries, sugar & water. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer and stir in the lemon juice/cornstarch mixture. Simmer while stirring until the sauce has thickened up, about 2 more minutes.
- Pour desired amount over individual pieces of french toast.
- Notes: *I used about ½ of a 16 ounce french bread loaf and removed the crust. If you want to make a 13x9 size dish, just simply double this recipe. If you don't want to add the lemon zest to to the french toast, you could also make the original recipe for the syrup. It doesn't have lemon juice in it. It is a thinner syrup. I liked the added lemon and the thickness of the sauce recipe I used.
Recipe Source: French Toast recipe adapted from Taste of Home. Sauce recipe from here.
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