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Golden, egg-rich challah is the best choice for this French toast inspired by holiday eggnog, since it does a great job of soaking up the rich custard. And because the entire dish can be assembled the night before it’s baked, it’s the perfect dish for serving to a house full of guests with a minimum of fuss.
Ingredients
- 1 loaf day-old challah, about 1 lb. (500 g), cut into slices 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick
- 8 eggs
- 2 cups (16 fl. oz./500 ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (4 fl. oz./125 ml) heavy cream
- 1 cup (8 oz./250 g) granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (3 fl. oz./80 ml) bourbon
- 1 Tbs. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
- Confectioners’ sugar for garnish
- Maple syrup for serving (optional)
Directions
Generously butter a 2 3/4-quart (2.75-l) Dutch oven or deep casserole dish. Arrange the bread slices in the prepared dish, overlapping them slightly.
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, granulated sugar, bourbon, vanilla and nutmeg until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the liquid evenly over the bread, turning some of the slices if necessary so that they have all absorbed some of the liquid. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to overnight.
Preheat an oven to 350°F (180°C).
Transfer the dish to the oven and bake, uncovered, until the French toast is puffy and the top of the bread is lightly browned, about 50 minutes, tenting the dish with aluminum foil if the top is getting too brown. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes. Dust generously with confectioners’ sugar and serve warm, passing maple syrup alongside. Serves 6 to 8.
Williams Sonoma Test Kitchen
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Rogard from
Our yearly Christmas breakfast!
This recipe is delicious. To address a few of the negative reviews... egg nog is not an ingredient because all of the components of egg nog is in the recipe. The bourbon and nutmeg makes the flavor of this amazing and a definite Christmas egg nog taste. You have to use day old bread and cook it until it’s done, not the time frame given in the recipe. Too many variables to have a set time. It took 90 minutes one time and we had to tent it. It’s so worth it though. My family are not big fans of French toast but this is a winner. A great traditional Christmas favorite that we look forward to.
Date published: 2019-12-25
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Deelzbth from
Stress-free Christmas Breakfast Star
This recipe turned out perfectly and was absolutely delicious cooked in the Le Creuset
Date published: 2018-12-25
Rated 1 out of
5
by
Mooselover204 from
What am I missing?
Maybe I just can’t read, but no where in this recipe do I see Eggnog listed. I’m confused.
Date published: 2018-12-11
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Pastie from
totally decadent
flagged this recipe in the catalog because my eldest son LOVES eggnog. Made it for the holidays and it was AMAZING! Everyone found it delicious - my husband said it looked and tasted like it had come out of a European bakery!
Date published: 2018-01-02
Rated 5 out of
5
by
BridgetK from
Fantastic!
I'm glad that I made this before the other reviewer posted. I made recipe exactly as written. I assembled it Christmas Eve in a Dutch oven, covered it and refrigerated overnight. I popped it in a preheated oven uncovered Christmas morning, took it out at 50 min when it was nicely browned. After resting 10 min it was perfect. It was VERY rich and filling. My family of 4 couldn't even finish half of it. It was also sweet enough without syrup. Serving it with bacon helped to balance the French toast.
Date published: 2017-12-26
Rated 1 out of
5
by
Memorymac from
Soggy Mess
Followed recipe to the letter. Soaked the bread overnight, overlapped the bread as directed. Put in the oven to bake, smelled delicious, fingers crossed for an awesome Christmas Eve breakfast. Removed dish from oven, let it stand for 10 min. Cut into it to serve and the part of the bread that was not overlapped was hard and the overlapped bread was a soggy mess. Mushy texture. Flavor was good. If I try it again, I will do everything up to baking it, instead I will fry the slices on the griddle.
Date published: 2017-12-24
