Overnight Coconut-Almond French Toast Casserole

Impress your family with this flavorful Overnight Coconut-Almond French Toast Casserole!

Guess what?  My husband made this!  I was so surprised when Nick told me he was going to make this for me for Mother’s Day.  I helped him out a little bit (like show him where things are since I don’t usually let him in the kitchen to cook) but he mostly did it himself and it was A-mazing!  We have already made it again… twice!  It’s that good.

The first few times we had this we topped it with syrup which was quite good.  I recently made a cheesecake with this raspberry sauce and thought it would be good on this french toast… and it was!  Plus, it’s way lower in sugar & calories and just looks beautiful.  But if you don’t have raspberries or time to make the sauce (it is actually really easy though) you can use syrup or even go plain with just the powdered sugar and berries.  
I don’t think you can go wrong serving this yummy dish!  The second time we made this was for my sister-in-law and her kids and they scarfed it down.  Definitely a great breakfast/brunch for a crowd that doesn’t take too much work.  And since it’s supposed to cool down to almost room temperature you can take it to a party and not have to worry about keeping it warm.  There’s a lot of wins to making this. 🙂  Oh and it’d be perfect for the 4th since it’s red, white, and blue (like the Berry Patch Brownie Pizza)!

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And just one more thing, it tastes best if you use artisan french bread.  It’s the kind you’ll find in the bakery of your local grocery store and it has a hard crusty outside.  We have made the casserole with Texas Toast  and we didn’t like it nearly as much as the artisan french bread.  K, I’m done ranting about how good this is.  Here is the recipe (Raspberry Sauce recipe is below too):

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Overnight Coconut-Almond French Toast Casserole

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings 9

Author Garnish & Glaze

Ingredients

For the Toast:

• 1 loaf 9 slices artisan French bread (the kind that has a hard crusty outside)
• 6 eggs beaten
• 3 1/2 cups half-and-half
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

For the Topping:

• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sweetened coconut flakes divided
• 1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons sliced almonds divided
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 stick butter melted

For the Garnish:

• Powdered sugar
• Fresh berries
• Raspberry sauce recipe below

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch pan with butter.
2. Slice French bread into thick 1 inch slices (you only need 9). Lay the bread on a baking sheet and bake for 6 minutes on each side to dry out the bread.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Beat in the eggs, half-and-half, and vanilla.
4. Dip each slice of bread in the mixture and then arrange staggered in pan like shingles. Pour the remaining mixture into the pan. Cover the pan with a lid or plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight (at least 6 hours).

For the Topping:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a blender or food processor, puree 1/2 cup coconut, 1/3 cup almonds, flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Spread the paste over the soaked bread. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons coconut and 2 tablespoons almonds over the top.
3. Bake for 50 minutes and then allow the casserole to cool for 40 minutes to an hour before serving.
4. Garnish with powdered sugar, fresh berries, and raspberry sauce. (You can also top with whipped cream or syrup.)

Recipe Source: Slightly adapted from Taste of Home (different bread, more cinnamon, slightly different amounts of various ingredients, topped with raspberry sauce)  Nutrition facts are calculated for just the casserole and does not include garnishes– berries, powdered sugar, and raspberry sauce (scroll down for raspberry sauce recipe and nutrition facts).

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Raspberry Sauce

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 7 minutes

Total Time 12 minutes

Servings 16

Author Garnish & Glaze

Ingredients

• 1 12 ounce package frozen raspberries
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon corn starch

Instructions

1. Add all sauce ingredients to a small pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes until sauce thickens. Strain sauce through a mesh strainer and into a bowl to remove the seeds. You will have to push the sauce around with a spatula to help it through. You will be left with a thick paste of seeds that you can discard. Cover the strained sauce and refrigerate.