Blueberry Baked French Toast

There is nothing like ending the day on a sweet note. I have missed out on making this recipe the last two times I put it on the Menu. The first time my youngest daughter was sick and got put in the hospital. Not only did I miss out on it, but Shannon from The Bargain Buggy and Aubrey from Eastern Shore Mom missed out as well. I was supposed to go to Destin for a girls weekend and make this for breakfast one morning! Totally bummed. Then, last week I was exhausted from baking cupcakes and completely forgot to make it Saturday night for Sunday morning. I was determined to get it made today! I assembled it this morning before work and baked it this evening. Clay and I were happy with cereal for dinner because we got to have this for dessert! If you've been hiding in a closet and have never heard of The Pioneer Woman, you must go now to check out her site. I've made several recipes of hers and loved the results of all of them. The Chicken Scallopine I made last night was the most recent. I found this recipe because I was looking for things that used pita chips. They were on sale that week at Publix and I have several bags in my stockpile. I LOVE bread pudding and I couldn't wait to see how this turned out! The salt on the pita chips balances out the sweetness of the custard and topping. The blueberries give it a nice tart pop. And you guys know how much I love maple syrup! Either for breakfast or dessert, you can't go wrong with this recipe from The Pioneer Woman.



1 Family Size Bag Stacy's Pita chips
7 large eggs
2 cups whole milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup heavy cream (can use half-and-half)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
6 oz. fresh blueberries (optional)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (plus a tad more)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter

Grease 9 X 13-inch baking pan with butter. Pour in bag of pita chips and arrange evenly. In a bowl mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar and vanilla. Pour egg mixture over pita chips. Cover pan tightly with foil and place in refrigerator overnight, or at least 6 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove pan from refrigerator. Sprinkle blueberries evenly over the top. Mix together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Slice butter and add to bowl, then use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture until it looks crumbly (I used my mixer to do this).

Sprinkle flour mixture over the blueberries and make sure its evenly distributed. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. Chips on top should be crispy and crunchy. Remove from oven and cut into squares. Drizzle with blueberry or maple syrup and serve warm.

Note from The Pioneer Woman: "If you're feeling naughty, top with whipped cream. Just don't say I told you to do it!"





Enjoy!



(adapted from The Pioneer Woman)