Recipe: Gluten-Free Overnight Bananas Foaster French Toast Casserole

Mmmm. I love a good breakfast. I love doing something different and outside the box. I love breakfast so much that I could (and have) eat it for every meal of the day. Seriously. But when you get a little tired of various ways to do breakfast food, there is always another option out there. And, thankfully, for me, I discovered a great looking recipe via I Heart Eating’s blog, which I adapted to be dairy-free and gluten-free…for an overnight French toast recipe.

Sort of like a breakfast bread pudding.

But with bananas. And vegan cream cheese. And rum.

Yes. RUM!

And that is why, the day after I ran a marathon, I found myself in my kitchen baking up a fantastic breakfast treat. It was Easter morning, and that meant something special needed to start off the day. Aside from a short shakeout run…my only other plans that morning was to bake up this breakfast. I had actually prepared it the night before and all night it was marinating in my fridge…just waiting to be placed in that warm oven.

So, without further adieu…I give you the recipe for Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Overnight Bananas Foster French Toast Casserole!

Recipe: Gluten-Free and Dairy Free Overnight Bananas Foster French Toast Casserole

Servings: 6-8
Time: Prep 20 minutes; Bake 50 minutes

Ingredients:

Banana Topping

4 tablespoons butter, melted (I used Earth Balance)

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon dark rum

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 medium ripe (not overripe) bananas, sliced

French Toast

2/3 loaf gluten-free challah bread, cut into cubes (I used Katz Gluten-Free)
4 ounces Toffutti Better Than Cream Cheese
6 large eggs
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Powdered sugar (for dusting)

Directions:

Make the banana topping by stirring together the melted butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla extract, dark rum, and cinnamon. To make banana topping, stir together butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, extracts, and cinnamon.Lightly grease a 9×9-9nch baking pan.Pour the butter sauce into the prepared pan.Place banana slices over the sauce.Layer half of the bread cubes over the bananas.Dot the bread cubes with the vegan cream cheese.Cover with the remaining bread cubes.Whisk together eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. Be sure to mix it well.Pour the egg mixture over the bread. Smoosh the bread down a little so that the bread can absorb the egg mixture.Cover and refrigerate overnight.In the morning, remove the pan from the refrigerator and leave it out while preheating the oven to 375°F.

Uncover and bake on a rimmed cookie sheet (in case the topping bubbles out…mine didn’t…but you can’t be too careful) for about 30-40 minutes or until the eggs have set.

Allow it to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes.

Invert to serve and sprinkle with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

~*~*~

While I have made plenty of overnight recipes before, there was definitely something special about this one. The flavor was fantastic. The banana portion, once inverted was rich and creamy, and the bread toasted to perfection, giving a nice play on both taste and texture. I was beyond impressed with the way this turned out. It totally made for the most amazing Easter breakfast I have made yet.

Delicious.

Come on…you know you want to make it too!

2 Replies to “Recipe: Gluten-Free Overnight Bananas Foaster French Toast Casserole”

v8mile says:

April 24, 2014 at 8:24 pm

You had me at “rum” and won me over with Katz’s challah bread. I’m so going to try this!

1. The Celiathlete says:
  
  April 24, 2014 at 11:16 pm
  
  YAY!! Enjoy!! I know we sure did!!