Blueberry French Toast

Three years ago on Christmas day I served Blueberry French Toast for our annual family Christmas brunch.  Since then I've had several requests for this yummy recipe, so I made it again this Christmas and decided I should finally share the recipe.

I promise you will have rave reviews whenever and wherever you serve this dish.  It is that good.

Because it does take a bit of effort to gather the ingredients and assemble this dish, I recommend you save it for those special occasions where you need a meal for company or taking to a covered dish event.  It will easily serve eight.  I like that you can prepare the recipe halfway the night before.

Ingredients for the base:

12 slices bread
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
12 eggs
2 cups milk
1/3 cup maple syrup

Ingredients for the sauce topping:

1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 cup water
1 cup blueberries
1 tablespoon butter

Other ingredients:

confectioners sugar
Pam

Directions:

Cube the bread into one inch cubes.
Spray a 13 x 9 dish with Pam and put in half the bread cubes.
Cut the cream cheese into 1/2 inch cubes and place over bread cubes.
Top with one cup of blueberries and the remaining bread cubes.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and combine with milk and maple syrup.
Pour this mixture over the top of the bread in the pan.
Cover and chill in the refrigerator over night.

Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cover and bake 30 minutes, then uncover and bake another 25 to 30 minutes, until top is golden brown and center is set.

While baking, prepare the sauce.
In a sauce pan combine 1 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons corn starch.
Add 1 cup water and boil over medium heat for 3 minutes while stirring.
Add 1 cup blueberries.
Reduce heat and simmer 8 to 10 minutes or until the blueberries burst.
Stir in one tablespoon of butter.

Cut into squares and ladle sauce over top.  Sprinkle with confectioners sugar.  ENJOY!

Because this is a fairly sweet dish, I served it with bacon slices.  I also placed a bowl of clementines there on the buffet.  I don't know why, maybe just for another pop of color.

If you try this recipe, please let me know what you think.  We think it's a keeper, for sure.