Baked Croissant French Toast with Lemon Cream Cheese
I mentioned in this post a few years ago that one of the family traditions we’ve changed from my growing up is having breakfast during the present unwrapping.
It’s nice to take a break part way through the unwrapping festivities for some real food (rather than just eating Reese’s peanut butter cups or tic-tacs from your stocking until lunch time and then feeling vaguely ill for the rest of the day).
Of course, my children are always anxious to get back to the presents, and I don’t want to spend a long time getting breakfast ready, so I always try to have it be a pretty quick and easy breakfast while still feeling festive.
This make-ahead croissant french toast casserole is PERFECT.
I can get it all ready to go the night before, including making the strawberry sauce and keeping it in the fridge, and then when we start opening presents, I can pop it in the oven and when the timer goes off, I warm up the sauce, pull out some juice and eggnog and breakfast is served.
If I’m feeling very fancy, I might fry up some bacon or make a quick smoothie.
I pretty much never met a croissant in any form that I didn’t like, and this is a REALLY good use of them, especially for our family that all loves cream cheese with all their hearts.
(When we lived in Arizona, we could pick a lemon right off our backyard lemon tree, which was even better – now we’re back to grocery store lemons).
If you make it for the holidays, I hope you and the rest of your family love it!
But if you’d rather just have a breakfast of stocking candy, I won’t judge you for it.
baked croissant french toast with lemon cream cheese
Baked Croissant French Toast with Lemon Cream Cheese
Baked Croissant French Toast with Lemon Cream Cheese. Super easy to make the night before and then pop in the oven for a special breakfast!
Ingredients
French Toast:
- 4 large croissants if they are a little stale, all the better
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar divided
- 2 lemons
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
Strawberry Sauce for serving:
- 1 1/2 cup strawberries roughly chopped
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup sugar or more to taste
Instructions
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Cut the croissants in half and then split open (like you're making a sandwich). Set aside.
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In the bowl of stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese, zest of one lemon, strained juice of one lemon, and 1/2 cup powdered sugar.
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Spread the cream cheese mixture over each half of the croissants and then put the tops and bottoms back together. Arrange the pieces evenly in a baking dish (mine is about a 5x9).
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In the same bowl that had the cream cheese mixture (no need to wash it out first), whisk together the eggs, milk, juice and zest from the second lemon, and remaining 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Pour over the croissants and cover with foil.
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Refrigerate overnight. In the morning, preheat the oven to 350. Bake covered for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes or until the croissants are golden brown.
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Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving, and top with strawberry sauce.
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To make strawberry sauce, combine the strawberries, water, and sugar in saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and let cook 10-15 minutes until the strawberries are falling apart and the liquid is thickening. Add more sugar to taste if desired.
Recipe Notes
(adapted from Our Best Bites)
Cream cheese and croissants… that's definitely two things that need to be in my diet more often!
Oh, this sounds positively ambrosial!
My grandmother used to make something very similar, and added homemade lemon butter to the cream cheese. Needless to say, it was an experience!
Great post. 🙂
Looks amazing. I've made overnight french toast before but never with croissants! Definitely pinning!
um…YUM!
My son cannot have any bakery goods due to his food allergies, what would you suggest to sub foe the croissants that would still work well for you this recipe?
I made this for Christmas this year (doubled the batched and added raspberries) and it was probably one of the best dishes at Christmas brunch! Making it again for New Year’s Day to last for the three day weekend!
Put this together last night for a special breakfast with my niece.
Easy, delicious and elegant. This recipe is a keeper!
Are you sure the ratio of 1 1/2 cup water is right for the strawberry sauce? I have it on the stove now and it is way way to much water -after simmering 10 minutes- had to pour it off and make it work another way. I hope the French toast is good – I have it in the fridge ready to go!
I had the same problem. How did you make it work?
This was to die for!! I did not follow the directions exactly because I did not have the time to put it in the fridge overnight. I did not have croissants either, but I had crescent rolls. Well, it was delicious anyway.
I found the bottom very mushy, any idea why if I followed the directions as written? And the sauce didn’t reduce after 30 minutes so I just turned it off.