Easy, fresh, bright, sweet, & creamy, this Strawberries & Cream Overnight French Toast features frozen Oregon strawberries so you can make it all year long!
Recipe by Chelsia Rief from catzinthekitchen.com
Strawberries and Cream Overnight French Toast
Ingredients
1 loaf French bread, cubed
8 eggs
½ C heavy cream (whole milk works too)
2 C milk
2 t vanilla extract
⅓ C sugar
8 oz cream cheese, softened
½ C sugar
1 ½ t lemon juice
1 ½ C frozen strawberries, sliced and divided (But not thawed)
Preparation
1. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick spray. Place half of the cubed bread on the bottom of the dish. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, heavy cream, milk, and vanilla together. Set aside.
2. In a bowl of a stand mixer, whip cream cheese, sugar, and lemon juice together until silky and combined. (This can also be done with an electric mixer.)
3. Pour the frozen strawberries into a colander and lightly rinse the strawberries, just taking the edge off the strawberries so you can slice them, but don’t thaw them – you want them to keep their shape. Slice the strawberries and scatter 3/4 cup of the berries over the bread. Dollop spoonfuls of the cream cheese over the strawberries.
4. Pour the egg mixture over the cream cheese and strawberries before adding the remaining bit of bread on top, followed by the rest of the strawberries. Gently press down on the bread to ensure the bread is soaking up the mixture.
5. Cover with foil and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Remove French toast from fridge and let sit and come to room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake with foil on for 30 minutes. Remove foil after 30 minutes and bake for another 15-30 minutes – the baking time should be closer to an hour.
6. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and maple syrup if desired.