Overnight Blueberry French Toast

A few weeks ago I was in charge of breakfast for the parent discussion group for Isaac's class. I was up till nearly midnight the night before getting everything ready to go. I am NOT a morning person and would always rather stay up late than get up early! Even with all of my preparation the night before, I was still in a rush the next day and forgot to take any pictures of the food I brought. It was a big hit though. I had several requests for recipes! On the menu: Apple Cinnamon muffins, fresh fruit with strawberry dip, and Overnight Blueberry French Toast.

The muffins were pretty average. I used a recipe from allrecipes.com and it was one of those where everyone gives 4-5 stars but in their review they list all of the changes they made to the recipe. I say if the recipe is not good as it is written, it doesn't deserve 4+ stars! I probably will not make those again. The Betty Crocker box mix is better than these!

For the fruit I cut up fresh pineapple, strawberries, and green grapes. The dip was super simple and super yummy (not necessarily super healthy): one 8 oz package of strawberry flavored cream cheese & one 7 oz jar of marshmallow creme. Whip them together in the blender and there you have it! At first I was planning to half the recipe, but once it started blending together it seemed to really shrink up. I think the marshmallow just gets swallowed up in the cream cheese or something.

The star of the show was definitely the french toast! I had something similar at a baby shower a few weeks ago and loved it. I had never had anything quite like it before. Of course there is the bread base, but there is also a nice texture that comes from cream cheese, plus a tart/sweet burst of flavor from the blueberries. So I did an ingredient search on allrecipes and found just what I was looking for. I halved this recipe and made it again for Father's Day breakfast a few days later. This time I got some pictures!

I read a lot of the reviews from the website and made some changes to the original recipe. Here is the adapted version that I used:

Overnight Blueberry French Toast

Ingredients
1 lb Italian bread, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 8 oz package cream cheese
1-2 cups fresh blueberries
9 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup maple syrup

1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions
Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Spread cream cheese on sliced pieces of bread & then cut into cubes. Arrange half the bread cubes in the dish, and sprinkle with 1 tsp of cinnamon & half the blueberries. Then create a second layer of bread cubes, cinnamon & blueberries.
In a large bowl, mix the eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and syrup. Pour over the bread cubes. Cover, and refrigerate overnight.
Remove the bread cube mixture from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before baking. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cover, and bake 30 minutes. Uncover, and continue baking 25 to 30 minutes, until center is firm and surface is lightly browned.
In a medium saucepan, mix the sugar, cornstarch, and water. Bring to a boil. Stirring constantly, cook 3 to 4 minutes. Mix in the remaining 1 cup blueberries. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, until the blueberries burst. Pour over the baked French toast.