Cinnamon French Toast Soufflé

[Lisa]

This is a do-ahead receipe for a brunch, lunch, breakfast, dessert or whatever.  Brought to an office brunch by a colleague, it was an amazing hit--everyone wanted the recipe!

Cinnamon French Toast Soufflé

Ingredients:

1 large loaf Cinnamon Raisin Bread (enough, when torn, to fill 9x13 inch pan)
12 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
6 oz. Butter, softened
¾ cup Maple Syrup (divided)
10 eggs
3 cups Half & Half
1 tsp. Vanilla
Cinnamon Sugar
Powdered Sugar (or other garnish)

Directions:

Tear or slice bread slices into bite-sized pieces.  Place bread in a well buttered 9x13 inch glass baking dish.  Mix cream cheese, butter and ¼ cup maple syrup until smooth.  Spread on top of bread, leaving some openings through which to pour egg mixture.  Beat eggs, half & half, vanilla and ½ cup maple syrup.  Pour over bread and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Uncover and bake 50 to 55 minutes at 350º.  Cut into squares or spoon onto plates and garnish by sprinkling with powdered sugar.  Serves 8 – 12.

Tips:
Choose bread carefully.  The texture of the bread will affect the result.  A “wonder bread” textured bread will not have as interesting a result; cinamon rolls could be spectacular as the “bread.”  I’ve seen a good result with the “Cinnamon Swirl Bread” from Costco, which is thickly sliced for French toast, but doesn’t have raisins, which would then need to be added separately.

Metal vs. Glass Pan.  There is no reason a 9x13 metal pan couldn’t be used, but watch baking time if you do so.

Garnish.  Could be served with créme anglais, maple syrup or ice cream instead of (or in addition to) powdered sugar. 

Enjoy!

Lisa

[DragonLady]

Oooh...I have to try this! 

[Liana]

Finally, I get this recipe, too!   It sounds wonderful!!

I'm going to try a much smaller version and see if I can split it successfully.

[Liana]

I'm going to report on my trial of a smaller version of this recipe.  I cut it to 1/3 of the original size.  This worked well, except I only used 3 eggs instead of 3 1/3.

We thought the rest of the ingredients were overpowered by the cream cheese.  It was quite sour tasting.  This may have been because it should have been cut more than the other ingredients or something, but when we ate the remainder of the pan, I warmed it in the microwave, and it did not taste noticeably sour.  Not sure why it would change, and it was mixed very well before I added the cream cheese/butter/syrup mixture, so it's a mystery to me.  I'm not sure I'll try it again, but I think if you fiddled with the proportions, it would probably come out fine. 

(I've been toasting the leftover cinnamon bread and eating it with lime curd for breakfast, and it's delicious!)