Cranberry + Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast Casserole

Cranberry Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast Casserole is the perfect dish for throwing together the night before brunch and baking off in the morning an hour before you eat! is an entire breakfast menu in one dish: eggs, toast, fruit preserves, cream cheese, cereal, milk.

This one recipe for Cranberry Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast is an entire breakfast menu in one dish: eggs, toast, fruit preserves, cream cheese, cereal, milk.

Hm...No, no bacon though because I wanted to keep this, you know, "healthy." Ha.

What is Cranberry Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast?

Something of a cross between French toast and bread pudding, Cranberry Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast is soft, billowy brioche bread slices soaked in an eggy custard, layered in a casserole dish with dollops of sweet tart cranberry sauce that's perfectly balanced with fluffy cream cheese.

Is it breakfast? Is it dessert? Yes and yes. If you serve it before, say 2 pm, you could call it brunch, especially since it is coated with cornflakes cereal. After 5 pm, it's bread pudding dessert. Either way, it goes great with Champagne.

What Ingredients You Need for Cranberry Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast

• brioche bread loaf, day-old is best
• cream cheese
• butter
• eggs
• milk
• sugar
• vanilla extract
• cinnamon
• salt
• cranberry sauce
• cornflakes
• maple syrup, honey, or powdered sugar for serving

Instructions for How to Make Cranberry Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast

To make any Stuffed French Toast Casserole, you will start the same way as making regular French toast, then finish by baking off in a casserole dish. Here are the steps:

1. Later day-old bread in a buttered casserole dish, and pour sugar-milk-egg custard over to soak up.

2. Dollop with cream cheese and cranberry sauce, top with second layer of bread, then pour over custard

3. Let the bread "marinate" covered in the fridge for at least an hour.

4. Bake in 350° F oven, cool and enjoy the crispy crunchy soft and gooey goodness!

Ingredients Notes and Resources for Cranberry Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast

1. Bread. Use a soft bread that still retains some structure since it will be soaking in milk for at least an hour. Brioche, which itself is made with butter and eggs, is a great option.
2. Cream Cheese. Use a basic brick of cream cheese. Because the French toast will be in the oven for 40 minutes, you don't want something too light that will melt or ooze out right away.
3. Butter. The butter is for greasing the pan. You can also use a neutral flavored oil.
4. Milk. Use at least 2% regular dairy milk. If you are substituting with a plant-based milk, coconut milk is the best option because of the higher fat content.
5. Cranberry sauce. The whole point of this casserole for me was to use up leftover Cranberry Sauce. If you don't have leftovers, you can obviously make a whole fresh batch of my all-time favorite Homemade Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce, or use another tart, red berry jam or preserves.
6. Cornflakes. Use the brand that everyone knows. It will hold up best in the oven. If you are interested in something organic, try this.
7. All other fresh herbs and produce from either the Santa Monica Farmers' Market on Wednesday, or Whole Foods Market when I can't find what I need at the farmers' market.

FAQ

What Else to Do with Cranberry Sauce

Stuffed French Toast is a luxurious way to use up leftover Cranberry Sauce from the Holidays! If you still have more cranberry sauce, check out these posts for ideas:

• How to Store/Freeze Leftover Cranberry Sauce and Recipe Ideas
• 2-3 tablespoons of leftover cranberry sauce? Make Cranberry Brie Grilled Cheese Sandwich {recipe}
• ½ cup of leftover cranberry sauce, bake into Cranberry Sour Cream Bread 
• ½ cup of leftover cranberry sauce plus dried cranberries, make Cranberry Bread Puddings
• at least 1 cup cranberry sauce or more, freeze into Cranberry Sorbet

Print Recipe

4.80 from 10 votes

Cranberry + Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast Casserole Recipe

You can substitute any type of fruit jam/preserves, or even use whole fresh fruit for the cranberry sauce. There isn't much you can do to something like this to mess it up. Which is why I make it!

Prep Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Total Time40 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: American

Keyword: french toast, sweets

Servings: 6 -8 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 large loaf of challah or brioche bread
• 8 large eggs
• 3 cups whole milk
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup cranberry sauce
• 2 cups cornflakes
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• ½ teaspoon salt
• maple syrup, honey, or powdered sugar for serving

Instructions

Assemble French Toast Casserole:

• Slice bread into 1 to 1½-inch thick slices or whatever width, so that you get at least 10-12 slices. Lay slices on a flat surface (a baking sheet or a very large cutting board) and let dry out a little. I left mine out for a couple of hours in the morning.
• Butter bottom and sides of 9x13-inch baking dish.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt.
• Arrange half of the slices of bread in a single layer on the bottom of the baking dish, overlapping the slices a little bit. Slowly pour or ladle about one-third of the egg+milk mixture over the layer of bread.
• Using your fingers, break apart the softened cream cheese into small chunks, flattening the chunks out to about ½-inch thick. Dot the cream cheese over the bottom layer of bread. Spoon cranberry sauce between and over the cream cheese. Pour or ladle a little more of the egg+milk mixture between the cranberry sauce and cream cheese dollops.
• Arrange the remaining half of bread slices over the cranberry sauce and cream cheese in a single layer, and slightly overlapping (like the first layer). Slowly pour or ladle the remaining egg+milk mixture over the bread. Tilt the baking dish and let excess egg+milk mixture run to one side; spoon the excess back over the top. Do this a few times to help the bread soak up the egg+milk.
• Cover the baking dish with foil, put in refrigerator, and allow the bread to soak for at least one hour, up to overnight.

To Bake French Toast Casserole:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Pour cornflakes into a small bowl. Drizzle with melted butter all, sprinkle with salt, then toss together to combine. It's ok if not all the cornflakes are coated with butter. Set aside for a moment.
• Bake casserole, covered with casserole lid or foil for 30 minutes. Uncover casserole, sprinkle with cornflakes, and bake uncovered for 10 minutes more, until edges of bread get toasted and cornflakes are browned.
• Alternative: Without cornflakes, bake uncovered for 40-45 minutes and the top layer of bread will brown.
• Remove casserole from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
• Serve with honey, maple syrup or powdered sugar.

when you make this recipe, let us know!Mention @TheDelicious or tag #thedeliciousmademedoit!

Notes

Leftover French Toast Casserole can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 days.

To freeze leftovers, wrap in plastic wrap, then foil, and store in freezer for up to 1 month.