Cinnamon French Toast Casserole

I love French Toast and when I make it I usually make a lot and freeze it so that on a busy morning we can just take a few slices out of the freezer and pop them into the toaster oven and leave the house having had a yummy, warm breakfast.

Sometimes though I want French Toast without the time commitment & effort of making a big batch. This Cinnamon French Toast Casserole recipe is great...and you can eat it for left-overs for 3 more days or cut it into portions and freeze it for later.

I found this recipe in the book "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Family Favorites" that I checked out from the library. I had to cut down the cooking time by 15 minutes and I only had quick oats on-hand even though the recipe calls for old-fashioned rolled oats.

It is so tasty and moist and it's great with or without pure maple syrup.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

One 1-pound loaf sliced cinnamon swirl bread, each slice cut into quarters
2 tbs cold, unsalted butter, cut into thin slices
8 large organic eggs
2 cups half-&-half
1 cup whole milk (1% or 2% is okay too)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

Topping:

3 tbs unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup old-fashion rolled oats
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Coast the inside of the crock pot with nonstick cooking spray. Add half the bread quarters to the crock and sprinkle with the slices of butter. Add the remaining bread quarters.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-&-half, milk, maple syrup, nutmeg and salt. Pour over bread. Press down gently to soak all the bread.
3. In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients and work them into a crumble. Sprinkle over the top of the bread mixture. Cover and cook on high for 2 1/4 hours, until the sides are browned and the center is set. Thermometer inserted into the center should register 190F.
4. Let the casserole rest, covered, in the turned-off cooker for 15 minutes before serving.

Corn Candy Bark

I dislike Candy Corn. Enough said.

While browsing Pinterest, an addictive website, I came across this recipe for Candy Corn Bark.

I'm trying to be a fun, holiday Mom, decorating the house for my 4 year old. Making footprint ghosts to hang on the wall and trash bag ghosts for the front lawn. You'd have to see photos to understand how cute these crafts are. And, since my little guy has been recently exposed to candy corn, I decided to give this recipe a try.

Ingredients

• 16 Halloween-colored chocolate sandwich cookies, chopped (Oreo brand)
  
• 1 1/2 cups broken small pretzels
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1 1/2 pounds white chocolate, broken into squares
  
• 2 cups candy corn
• orange and brown sprinkles (optional)
  

Directions

1. Spread the cookies, pretzels and raisins evenly onto a lightly greased small baking sheet. Melt chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, or in the microwave, stirring frequently until melted. Remove from the heat while there are still a few chunks, and stir until smooth. White chocolate burns easily.
2. Drizzle chocolate with a spoon over the goodies in the pan, spreading the top flat to coat evenly. Top with candy corn and sprinkles. Let cool until firm. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

I made a few changes to the recipe...

Ingredient change: I used white chocolate chips instead of chopping up bars.

Direction changes: I used parchment paper to line a 13x9 pan. It made it easy to pull out of the pan. I also do not have it stored in an air-tight container. I have it in a glass bowl (the one in the photo). After 4 days it's still fresh.

This recipe came out really well. The sweet of the raisins and the salty flavor of the pretzels combined nicely with the creamy flavor of the white chocolate. The taste of candy corn disappears and therefore you can have a fun, colorful Halloween treat that tastes really good.