The morning after

If you haven’t figured it out by now…I love trying new recipes. My mother taught me that I should NOT try out new recipes on ‘company’. Generally speaking, I’m a good (compliant) daughter and listen to my mother’s advice. However, in this regard, I have boldly chosen to ignore her words of wisdom. I rarely, if ever, preview a recipe on family. I am not afraid to try a new recipe on my friends or on ‘company’. In fact, I consider friends and ‘company’ to be my best guinea pigs. My mother would probably roll over in her grave if she heard me say that. But, since I know exactly where we sprinkled her ashes (in the Columbia River), that won’t be an issue.

My schedule is pretty full with work and church and music and friends, so I don’t have much time for reading at home. Consequently, I usually save up all my magazines until camping season. Oh, I usually give them a ‘once-over’ preview when they first arrive at the house. But, then they get packed into a sturdy tote bag and ‘saved’ for our next camping trip. I’ve spent hours sitting around the campfire, up at the lake, scouring my favorite magazines for good looking recipes. My husband complains about how heavy that bag is and how he always manages to stub his toe on it. And my camping buddies, Sheila & Lucy, derive way too much pleasure from making fun of my ‘brick-o-magazines’ bag that I haul out of our tent-trailer each day. But, they’re not opposed to helping me read them!

Pretty much any occasion turns into an opportunity for me to try making something new. So, when Sheila suggested that we ‘do’ brunch on New Year’s Day, I was all over that! The idea was, ‘The Gang’ would all hang out on New Year’s Eve and then get back together again on New Year’s Day for a spectacular brunch of our own making - the perfect time to try new recipes!

We had a great time looking for recipes, discussing and puzzling over who likes or dislikes certain ingredients. Each of us chose several recipes. And, there was certainly more food there than a small army could consume.

For my part, I chose to make what I’ll loosely call Overnight French Toast. I’d heard of it before and even tried some at a friend’s home once.  I was intrigued by the ability to do all the prep the day before and finishing it off on the day of.  The hunt for a unique version was part of the fun. It had to be easy, but not boring. But, it needed to look complicated and fancy – for extra culinary credit (I have no idea who keeps score for that…God?...but, I want to make sure and get mine). It needed to measure up to the occasion without being too elaborate. The one I found fit the bill perfectly...just enough fancy without being too much work.

To commemorate the occasion, we took photos of our spread and congratulated ourselves on a magnificent meal.  We did not take many pictures of ourselves because we were still a little blurry from lack of sleep ‘the morning after’.  We ate till we were about to pop and washed it all down with champagne flutefuls of sparkling fruit juice. If memory serves me correctly, we went home and took a long nap.

 

Overnight French Toast

INGREDIENTS

1	loaf French bread
	butter (for the pan)
8	large eggs
2	cups Half-N-Half
1	cup milk
2	T sugar
1	T vanilla
½	t cinnamon
½	t nutmeg
	Salt
	Praline topping
	Raspberry syrup

 Praline Topping:

½	lb (2 sticks) butter
1	cup packed light brown sugar
1	cup chopped pecans
2	T light corn syrup
½	t cinnamon
½	t nutmeg

Raspberry Syrup:

1	cup raspberry preserves
3	T water
2	T raspberry liqueur (Framboise)

Directions

1.     Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch thick each.  Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9X13 casserole dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices.

2.     In a large bowl, combine eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.  Beat with a hand mixer or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

3.     Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 45 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with Raspberry Syrup.

Praline Topping:

Combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and blend well.  Spread over bread as directed above.

Raspberry Syrup:

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir until warm and thinned out like syrup.