With sleepy eyes and mussed hair my youngest gal saunters into the kitchen for breakfast. On the weekends my sassy gal of 14 is the last one to rise.
I know she can smell whatever I’m cooking. The lingering scent of food travels right to her bedroom. It’s the best method for waking a teenage girl.
The scent of sweet orange and warm cinnamon drifts through the house and it doesn’t take long before I have three hungry Bennett’s sitting at the counter.
Plates set, napkins passed and cutlery ready. Someone inevitably forgets to set out the syrup. And the butter. But everyone is sporting a smile. Almost giddy.
This makes my heart sing. Hearing the happy morning chatter over Baked French Toast with fresh juice and hot coffee. Laughter, conversation, smiles.
Food Love.
Orange Cinnamon Raisin Baked French Toast
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
1 loaf cinnamon raisin bread
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
8 eggs
Zest of one orange
¼ cup maple syrup
¼ cup Grand Marnier
1 ½ cups half and half or heavy cream
1 cup raisins
Directions
With 1-2 tablespoons butter, grease the bottom of a 9×11 or 9×13 baking dish. Lightly butter several slices of cinnamon raisin bread and then lay them on the bottom of the baking dish.
Scatter some of the raisins on top and then layer with more buttered slices of bread. Scatter more raisins and then topping with a final layer of buttered cinnamon raisin bread.
Whisk together the eggs, half and half, orange zest, Grand Marnier and Maple syrup. Pour the mixture over the bread and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes while pre-heating the oven. Or, cover the baking dish and let it sit overnight.
Pre-heat the oven to 350F and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until the Baked French Toast golden brown on top and feels done to the touch.
Let the Baked French Toast cool slightly before serving. Serve with maple syrup and fresh fruit. (I love it served with banana slices)
I love that scene Karista – what a beautiful way to start the morning!
Thank you Alyssa. I love weekend mornings 🙂
What a fabulous looking French toast!
Perfect for a crowd too 🙂 Happy Holiday Weekend!
That looks far superior to the weird hot cross buns i just had!
🙂 Thanks! I love hot cross buns. Especially drenched in jam.
I agree, food aromas are the new alarm clocks for teenagers. I am going to make millions one day as I swear I need to invent the “bacon alarm clock”. That is one smell that gets my boys up and adam in the morning. Love the sound of these delicious orange, cinnamon and raisin pancakes. Great flavors for a lazy weekend morning.
LOL! Bam when you invent that alarm clock I want one!
I would love to have a seat at your breakfast table. I love french toast with a little powder sugar to go along with the syrup.
Well I’d love to have you seated at my breakfast table Karen! How fun it would be to chat with you over breakfast and coffee!! 🙂
Wow. I’d wake up EXTRA early for this dish! Thanks Karista! 🙂
Thank you! The scent is truly amazing. I wish I could find a candle that smelled that great.
What a great French toast…..lovely:)
Thank you Katya!!
You are welcome!
Hola Karista, I just nominated you for an award, you have a wonderful and inspiring blog, (I´m sure you already have it)
http://katyakitchen.com/2013/04/01/the-versatile-blogger-award/
Awww… you are such a darling. Thank you so much. I’m so honored by your award!
You deserve lots of awards, your blog is wonderful ….congratulations!!!
I love everything about this! What a great dish to wake up to —
Thanks Bill! I especially love this slathered in real maple syrup. Yum!
The smell if your French toast would send anyone running to the kitchen! We really love cinnamon bread in this house so I know this dish would be a big hit in this house. It is one one those times when I ask myself why I have never used cinnamon bread for French toast? Brilliant idea Karista!
Yup.. me again, just catching up.. and drooling:) What a fantastic idea for breakfast .. er, well, supper too.. I’ve been known to have breakfast for supper quite often and this is pretty tempting:)xx