Make Ahead Praline French Toast Casserole
Make Ahead Praline French Toast Casserole is the perfect breakfast dish to impress your mom with this Mother’s Day. Filled with bread, sugar and a whole lot of butter, you’re sure to win over mom this year. Dads, follow this easy step-by-step recipe equipped with pictures, printable grocery list, and card for Mom! Easy brunch recipe. Great for baby showers, tea parties, Christmas breakfast, and holiday breakfasts too.
Calling all dads, husbands, and children. This is it! Your moment to shine has arrived. In just a couple of weeks, Mother’s Day will be here. This is your opportunity to WOW that special woman in your life. Do you know what you’re doing yet? This is a very important day, and it has to be special, so you better get to planning! To start the day off on the right foot, plan to prepare this Make Ahead Praline French Toast Casserole for your wonderful lady. She’ll be eternally grateful!
How am I so sure she’ll love this Praline French Toast Casserole?! Probably because this mom, meaning me, loves it to the very last buttery bite. This casserole is prepared with all the best ingredients. Bread, sugar, and butter are 3 of the most treasured food groups loved by all moms. If only I could figure out a way to add cheese and wine to this breakfast dish. Now that would be a Mom’s Dream!
But before I proceed with the recipe, I want to talk about the reality that there’s a pretty large chance that I’m probably speaking to a woman right now on the other side of the computer. My readers are typically women because they relate to what I write about and “get me” on a deeper level.
With that exact thought in mind, I want to get deep with you right now. Are you ready?
At the beginning of your relationship, for me that was just over 18 years ago, your significant other did everything they possibly could to make you feel special. They wrote you letters, sent you flowers, cooked your favorite meals and took you out on the most amazing dates ever. It was magical! Am I right?
Just like that they “caught you” hook, line, and sinker. You got engaged and then before you knew it, you were tying the knot. Things were still romantic, maybe not as romantic as they once were, but the romance was definitely still present.
Fast forward a little more and babies start to come into the picture. Finding time to even take a shower becomes a chore! Romance, what the heck is that? Ain’t nobody got time for that!
The years go on, the kids start to grow older, and you finally do have time for some romance again in your life. Awesome, right? You can just pick up right where you left off years ago when your relationship was all rainbows, butterflies, and sparkles…
Maybe that’s the case for some, but not for me. Over the years, I became the planner in our relationship. If we have something on the calendar, 9 out of 10 times, I’ve coordinated it. And honestly, I am fine with that…most of the time. But sometimes, like on Mother’s Day or my birthday, I’d like someone else to make the plans and surprise me for a change.
But Patrick wasn’t getting it. He thought I liked “being in control” of all the planning. I do enjoy it, I love it actually, but I needed him to know that every once in awhile I still wanted him to surprise me.
Plus, we are raising a son and I wanted him to know the importance of treating a woman special and how to show her appreciation for all she does.
So what did I do to try and solve the problem? I just told him. I literally just decided one day while I was on the phone with Patrick on his way to work, that I needed to tell him I thought he had lost his romantic side. Of course, I had to admit that I too had fallen off track in that department over the last 18 years but I was willing to make a better effort.
I spelled out for him what I wanted. Mainly, I wanted him to surprise me and plan something special for me. Guys need that help sometimes. They aren’t mind readers like us females are 😉
And you know what happened? He actually did it! Since that talk, he’s made reservations on two separate occasions and has put a lot more effort into being romantic. Is it perfect? Of course not, but he’s trying to make things better and that’s all I can ask for.
If this is you, try having a talk with your significant other. Send him the link to this post in his email or through text if you want. Let me be the bad guy. I don’t mind telling him it’s in his best interest to make this Praline French Toast Casserole for Mother’s Day this year, or else!
And because I want you to have the best Mother’s Day ever, I’ve created a few things to help your man out. Again, it’s as simple as sending him the link and letting him get to work. He can do it!
To make things even easier for your guy:
- I’ve created a shopping list with a few little “helpers” on where in the grocery store to find the items for this Make Ahead Praline French Toast Casserole.
- I’ve also made a cute fill-in-the-blank activity for dad to do with the kiddos! He can print this out and get to writing 💜
- How do I print it? Find it all in my free resource library. All you need is the password which you can get by filling out the form below.
So what do I need to put together this Make Ahead Praline French Toast Casserole?
13 to 16 oz French bread, 8 eggs, 2 cups of half and half, 1 cup milk, 2 tablespoons white sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
For the topping: 2 sticks of butter (softened), 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup pecans (chopped), 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
You need to prepare this the night before. Begin by buttering a 9 x 13 casserole dish.
Slice your french bread into 1 inch thick pieces.
Place them in the casserole dish so they overlap, like so.
In a bowl, crack your 8 eggs.
Add your two cups of half and half. This is a full 16 oz container, which is one pint.
Add one cup of milk as well.
Pour in one teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Sprinkle in a ¼ teaspoon each of nutmeg and cinnamon.
Finally, add your two tablespoons of white sugar.
Stir everything together.
Pour the egg mixture on top of the bread slices making sure to get it in between the slices.
If you look closely you’ll see the egg mixture on the bottom the casserole dish. The bread will soak most of this up overnight.
Cover the casserole dish and place it in the refrigerator overnight.
*Before you go to bed, pull out the two sticks of butter and let them soften. If you forget to do this, no problem! Place the butter in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave it on the defrost setting for 10 – 15 seconds.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
To the bowl with the butter, add your cup of brown sugar, a cup of chopped pecans, ½ teaspoon of cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg, and 1 tablespoon of light corn syrup.
Stir all the topping ingredients together and set aside.
Pull the casserole out of the fridge and take a look at the inside of the casserole dish. If you notice that not all the egg mixture was soaked up, take your bread slices and dip them in the remaining liquid until it’s all in the bread.
Next, spread the topping all along the top of the bread. The easiest way to do this is with your hands! Get in there and get dirty.
Place the casserole dish in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
I find this Make Ahead French Toast Casserole to have just the perfect amount of sweetness, but you can always serve it with a side of syrup if you choose.
Enjoy!
And there you have it! This Make Ahead French Toast Casserole is the perfect dish to hand off to your husband to make for Mother’s Day breakfast with the kids. Good luck and let me know how it goes! I’d love to hear all about your Mother’s Day and see your amazing Breakfast in Bed pictures. Happy Mother’s Day, ladies 💜
*Make Ahead Praline French Toast Recipe courtesy of Paula Deen.
DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE GROCERY LIST AND MOTHER’S DAY PRINTABLE FOR A SUPER EASY MOTHER’S DAY!
- 13 to 16 oz French bread
- 8 eggs
- 2 cups of half and half
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- For the topping:
- 2 sticks of butter (softened)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup pecans (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- You need to prepare this the night before. Begin by buttering a 9 x 13 casserole dish.
- Slice your french bread into 1 inch thick pieces and place them in the casserole dish so they overlap.
- In a bowl, crack your 8 eggs.
- Add your two cups of half and
half and one cup of milk. - Pour in one teaspoon of vanilla extract.
- Sprinkle
in a ¼ teaspoon each of nutmeg and cinnamon. - Finally, add your two tablespoons of white sugar.
- Stir everything together and pour the egg mixture on top of the bread slices making sure to get it between the slices.
- Cover the casserole dish and place it in the refrigerator overnight.
- *Before you go to bed, pull out the two sticks of butter and let them soften. If you forget to do this, no problem! Place the butter in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave it on the defrost setting for 10 - 15 seconds.
- The next morning, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- To the bowl with the butter, add your cup of brown sugar,
cup of chopped pecans, ½ teaspoon of cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg, and 1 tablespoon of light corn syrup. - Stir all the topping ingredients together and set aside.
- Pull the casserole out of the fridge and take a look at the inside of the casserole dish. If you notice that not all the egg mixture was soaked up, take your bread slices and dip them in the remaining liquid.
- Next, spread the topping all along the top of the bread. The easiest way to do this is with your hands.
- Place the casserole dish in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
- Enjoy!
Want to remember this? Post this Overnight Praline French Toast recipe to your favorite Pinterest board!
I love this so much! It looks delicious! I can also relate on how important it is to communicate with your spouse when you want him to be more romantic or surprise you with something! This was a tough lesson to learn as I always wanted him to just “get it”! I was even direct and sent him a link to this blog post and said, “this is what I want for my Mother’s Day breakfast”! He was very appreciative! Thank you for sharing!
You won’t be disappointed with this casserole, I promise! Plus it’s so easy your husband will magically think cooking isn’t that bad and might want to cook a little more often…lol! I always have a few tricks up my sleeve 🙂
You had me at ‘bread, sugar, and butter.’ Done and sold. My biggest issue with make ahead french toasts is that they are either horribly soggy or completely dry. I’ve never hit that perfect in between. So, for Mother’s Day, my husband the self pronounced breakfast guru is going to make me this gosh darn it. I can’t wait to let you know how it turns out, either!!!
I completely agree about there being a fine line with baked french toast. The trick I found with this one is to make sure all the egg mixture is soaked up when you pull it out of the fridge the morning of. You can let the hubby know that one since he’s making it, but I also wrote it in the recipe. <3
I absolutely adore the notion of combining Mother’s Day and romance!!! So often, in the act of raising children, we lose our sensual side. We get caught up in the responsibilities of life and forget to ‘let our hair down.’ Having our family members make us this delicious breakfast is certainly a step in the right direction! And, if you can’t do it on Mother’s Day, when can you??? Great post, as always.
Thank you for your thoughtful comments, Lorrie! Hopefully they’ll be a lot of happy moms this Mother’s Day after eating this casserole 💜
I love “make-ahead” recipes! Especially ones for breakfast! This looks amazing–going to try it this weekend. I want to cut the recipe in half–have you ever had an issue with that? Thanks again Tiffany for these fabulous breakfast recipes–a great way to start the morning!
This one is amazing, Sharlene! I guarantee you won’t be disappointed with this one. The amount of butter alone is a sign it’s going to be a recipe that makes your brain do backflips!