Overnight Gingerbread French Toast

Start your Christmas morning with this overnight gingerbread french toast for the best holiday brunch! Full of warm spices and paired with cranberry compote, this dish is not only delicious but easy to prepare.

Watch how to make this

Ingredients

• Maple syrup: Serves as a natural sweetener that enhances the overall flavor of the dish. Its rich, caramel-like sweetness complements the spices and provides a delightful contrast to the savory elements of the French toast.
• Molasses: Contributes depth and complexity to the flavor profile, adding a distinct sweetness that is characteristic of gingerbread.
• Challah: A rich, egg-based bread that is perfect for French toast due to its soft texture and ability to absorb the egg mixture without falling apart.
• Eggs: Essential for creating the custard-like base for French toast. They provide structure and richness, helping to bind the ingredients together while also contributing to a tender texture as they cook.
• Milk: Adds creaminess and moisture to the egg mixture, ensuring that the bread soaks up enough liquid to achieve a soft and flavorful interior.
• Spices: Cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg are key to giving the French toast its signature gingerbread flavor. They add warmth and aromatic qualities that make this dish particularly festive and comforting.
• Cranberries: Fresh cranberries provide a tart contrast to the sweetness of the French toast and syrup. When cooked down into a compote with sugar and orange juice, they add brightness and acidity, balancing out the richness of the dish while offering a pop of color and texture.

Substitutions and variations

• Bread: Swap challah with French loaf or any other thick sliced white bread.
• Toppings: You can pair the french toast with vanilla ice cream for a more indulgent dish, top it with candied nuts, or enjoy with apple compote for a different fruit topping.

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Prepare french toast

So I'm going to come clean and tell you, I never made overnight french toast...until now. I've seen the dish but for some reason never had an urge to make it. But the other day, a light bulb turned on and I thought, "what if I infused the french toast with gingerbread flavors?" Now that was one dish that I can get on board with.

Making the overnight gingerbread french toast is incredibly easy. In fact, I think it's easier to make then regular french toast. You just prepare everything the night before and pop it in the oven the next day. Can't get any better than that, right?

To give the french toast that gingerbread taste, first pour melted butter with molasses, brown sugar, and maple syrup in the bottom of the baking dish. Then, dip the bread slices in the egg batter seasoned with warm spices like ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg.

I used sliced challah but you can use French loaf, Pullman bread, even croissants! I do recommend using thick hearty slices so that the bread doesn't get too soggy.

Pour the remaining egg batter over the bread, cover the dish, and let it sit for one hour or overnight in the fridge. That's another great thing about this french toast. If you don't want to wait until the next day, just let it sit for 1 hour and it'll be ready to go!

Step 2: Make cranbery compote

Meanwhile, make the cranberry compote. This can also be made the night before. Simply simmer cranberries with sugar, orange zest, orange juice, and cinnamon for about 10 minutes or until thickened.

It's basically like you're making cranberry sauce, so if you happen to have extra sitting around, you can even skip this step.

Step 3: Bake

Preheat the oven and bake the french toast for 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees F. The tops of the bread should become a lovely golden brown when it's ready. If the tops begin to darken too quickly, loosely cover the dish with foil. Let the overnight gingerbread french toast cool for 10 minutes before digging in.

Top the french toast with whipped cream and the cranberry compote and serve warm. The whipped cream slowly melts, almost becoming a sauce for the toast. You don't even need syrup because of the molasses and syrup that has now soaked into the bread. This breakfast was such a winner, I might need to make it a new Christmas tradition.

Make-ahead and storage

• Make-ahead: This dish is meant to be prepared ahead of time. You can put together both the casserole and cranberry compote the day before.
• Store: Store any leftover French toast in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven or microwave before serving.

Frequently asked questions

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Recipe

Print Recipe

Overnight Gingerbread French Toast

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: french toast, holidays

Servings: 8

Author: Christine Ma

Ingredients

Overnight gingerbread french toast

• ¼ cup maple syrup (85 grams)
• ¼ cup brown sugar (50 grams)
• 2 tablespoons molasses (40 grams)
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted (57 grams)
• 1 pound Challah loaf sliced into 1-inch thick slices
• 6 large eggs
• 2 cups milk (500 ml)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• ¼ teaspoon cloves
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt

Cranberry compote

• 2 cups fresh cranberries (260 grams)
• ⅓ cup brown sugar (66 grams)
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• juice of 1 orange
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Remaining ingredients

• whipped cream for serving

Instructions

• Combine the maple syrup with brown sugar, molasses, and melted butter. Pour the mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
• Whisk together the eggs with milk, vanilla, and spices. Dip the bread into the egg batter, letting the bread sit for 30 seconds before transferring them to the baking dish. Shingle the slices of bread in the baking dish and pour the remaining egg batter on top. Cover and let the french toast sit for at least one hour or in the fridge overnight.
• Meanwhile, make the cranberry compote. Combine the cranberries with brown sugar, orange zest and juice, and cinnamon in a medium saucepot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat and continue to simmer for 10 minutes or until the cranberries are softened. Set aside.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Bake the french toast for 40-45 minutes or until the toast is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let it sit for 10 minutes. Serve with the cranberry compote and whipped cream.

Notes

The cranberry compote can be prepared up to 5 days in advance.