French Toast with Blueberries and Blueberry Maple Syrup (Québec)

This Blueberry French Toast Bake is a simple dish you can assemble the night before and then pop it into the oven for about 35 minutes before serving breakfast. Perfect for serving any company you may have over the holidays.

French Toast:
1 loaf rustic bread, crusts removed, and cut into 1" slices
8 eggs
2 cups milk
¾ cup brown sugar, divided
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup pecans, chopped and lightly toasted
2 cups blueberries, rinsed and thawed if frozen

Blueberry Maple Syrup:
1½ cups Québec grade-A maple syrup
2 cups frozen blueberries, rinsed
onfectioners' sugar (optional)

Butter a 9x13" baking dish with and arrange the bread slices in a single layer in the dish. If you prefer, you can also cut the bread into cubes.

French Toast:
In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk, ½ cup of the brown sugar, and vanilla together. Pour over the bread. Cover and chill overnight. Don’t be concerned if there seems to be too much liquid. The bread will absorb it all by the morning.

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C/160°C fan, Gas Mark 4).

Blueberry Maple Syrup:
In a small saucepan, combine maple syrup and blueberries. Warm gently and press on berries lightly to break some up if desired. Keep warm.

Just before baking, sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup brown sugar, the pecans, and blueberries over the bread. Bake the dish, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until golden and bubbling.

Cut into squares and place on warmed plates. Sprinkle with onfectioners' sugar and serve with warm Blueberry Maple syrup.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Variations:

• Baked Orange French Toast: Use day-old raisin bread. Replace ½ cup of the milk with orange juice, reduce vanilla to ½ tsp, add 1 Tbsp. grated orange zest, and ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg. You can include the pecans if you want, but leave out the blueberries. Add a little orange zest to plain maple syrup when you are warming it if desired.
• Baked Gingerbread French Toast: Use cinnamon-swirl bread. Add 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, 1 tsp. ground ginger, ¼ tsp. ground cloves, and ½ tsp. ground nutmeg to milk mixture. Do not include the blueberries. Use plain maple syrup or add a little ground cinnamon and ginger while warming.
• Baked Cinnamon French Toast: Combine ½ cup melted butter with ½ cup brown sugar and spread in bottom of baking dish. Top with plain bread slices. Add 2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon to milk mixture. You can use the blueberries or leave them out. Serve with plain maple syrup.