My rich and filling Baked Banana Macadamia French Toast with its cream cheese filling is prepared the day before, soaked over night, and served hot and delicious in the morning.
My family loves french toast. So do I. But the french toast I love the most is the kind that I can make the day before and then simply set in the oven when I wake up for a delicious breakfast treat.
I’ve made lots of french toast casseroles before like my cranberry french toast casserole and my pumpkin spice french toast casserole, but there’s something extra fun to cramming all that tasty goodness into a cute little individual ramekin. My favorite kind of bread to use is one of those crusty finish-baking-at-home kind of loaves. You know, the kind with the squishy middle but the crunchy chewy crust? YUM. By soaking in the egg mixture overnight, each bite is full of that glorious french toast flavor. I shoved bananas, macadamia nuts, and dots of cream cheese in the center. You could really make this any flavor you want… I was just craving the flavor of the islands on this particular day!
This recipe uses pure vanilla extract. Did you know you can make your own homemade vanilla extract? It makes the perfect gift too. Watch how in the video below.
Baked Banana Macadamia French Toast
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 12 ounces bread about 5 cups cut into 1/2 to 1 inch cubes
- 1 large ripe banana sliced
- 1/2 cup macadamia halves
- 3 ounces cream cheese cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/3 cups half and half
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
Instructions
The night before:
- Grease six (6 ounce) ramekins with butter. Place in baking dish (I used two round cake pans).
- Place half the bread in the ramekins.
- Top the bread with banana, macadamia nuts, and cream cheese, dividing evenly between each dish.
- Cover with remaining bread.
- In separate bowl, whisk eggs, half and half, vanilla and maple syrup until well combined. Slowly pour over each ramekin, dividing the liquid mixture evenly between each dish. You might have a small amount of liquid left over, but try to get as much as possible into the ramekins.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap, weigh down with a heavy plate to smash the bread into the liquid, and refrigerate over night. Note: some of the liquid will spill out into the baking dish the ramekins are placed in.
The morning of:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- If any of the liquid mixture spilled over, remove the ramekins from the baking dish and carefully pour anything that spilled into the ramekins. Return ramekins to baking dish.
- Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
- Top with additional maple syrup or dust with powdered sugar.
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