I’ve spent the past week or so visiting family, and one thing this trip has done—in addition to providing plenty of laughs and an abundance of old stories—is reaffirmed how much I enjoy cooking for loved ones. This is something I don’t get to do very often, since my family, the fiancé, and I all currently live in different states.
With Mother’s Day just around the corner, I wanted to create something decadent and truly worthy of the special women in our lives. While I won’t get to spend Mother’s Day itself with my mom this year, I was glad to be able to share a test version of this chocolate raspberry French toast casserole with her ahead of time. My mom certainly has a sweet tooth (how could she not, as the mother of the Cake Pants Lady?), but she tends to tease me about passing off dessert as breakfast. In this case, however, my dad and I agreed with her that it was actually a little too decadent at first! I had gone slightly overboard and used an entire cup of chocolate chips, so as per my mom’s suggestion, I decreased the amount listed in the recipe to three-quarters of a cup. If you’re a total chocoholic, though, feel free to use a cup!
This chocolate raspberry French toast casserole does have a bunch of steps, but you can easily prepare the raspberry sauce and streusel in advance to save time in the morning. Plus, it’s hearty enough to stand alone as a meal, since it has eggs, bread, and fruit all together in one dish—so just throw on a pot of coffee or tea and you’re good to go! Of course, if you want to fry some bacon while the casserole bakes in the oven, I doubt anyone would protest 😉
If you can find a more indulgent way to start off a day than with pillowy soft challah bread, rivulets of melty chocolate, and pockets of tart raspberry sauce, well…I won’t eat my words, but I’ll happily eat your share of this chocolate raspberry French toast casserole!
I’ve mentioned previously how food is my love language, but what about the times when you want to show loved ones far away that you are thinking of them? What are your favorite ways to celebrate the people in your life when you can’t be there in person?
- 9 ounces raspberries, divided (fresh or frozen)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) water, divided
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 loaf challah (1 pound), cut into cubes or torn into chunks
- 8 eggs
- 3 cups milk (non-dairy is fine)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine (non-dairy is fine), chilled and cut into pieces
- 3 ounces raspberries (optional)
- 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
- Set aside 1/3 cup raspberries. Stir together the remaining raspberries, sugar, and 6 tablespoons water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
- Stir together the cornstarch and remaining 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl. Once the raspberry mixture is boiling, add the vanilla extract and cornstarch liquid and reduce to medium heat. Cook for 5-8 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened to the consistency of runny jam. Let the mixture cool for 5-10 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1/3 cup raspberries.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x13 pan. Put the bread chunks in the pan and sprinkle with 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Use your fingers to distribute the chocolate chips evenly.
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in the milk and cinnamon. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread chunks. Spoon dollops of raspberry sauce in between the bread chunks.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, and salt. Add the butter and work it into the dry ingredients until the largest pieces are no bigger than the size of peas. Sprinkle the mixture on top of the bread chunks. Optional: sprinkle 3 ounces raspberries and 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top of the streusel.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes, depending on the consistency you prefer: 40 minutes for a softer/wetter texture, up to 50 minutes for a firmer texture.
- The casserole can be assembled in advance, covered, and refrigerated overnight. I recommend taking the casserole out of the refrigerator while the oven is preheating. You may also need to bake the casserole a few minutes longer, since it is going into the oven cold rather than at room temperature.
- Casserole recipe adapted from The Casserole Queens Cookbook.
- Raspberry sauce recipe adapted from Tastes of Lizzy T.
- Streusel topping recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman.
Wow. Besides being absolutely gorgeous, it sounds fantastic! Saving for when I have breakfast company!
Thanks, Mimi! I hope you get a chance to try it 🙂
Sometimes when I will be away from a loved one for a while I leave them smiley faces on a small piece of paper or on a Post-It note. I hide several of them in places they will likely find them so they know I am thinking of them. Corny, yes – but no one has complained about it so far and this has been going on for years.
I love that idea! I’m sure it makes them smile when they find one 🙂
Even though you won’t get to spend Mother’s Day with your mother this year, it sounds like she had a wonderful pre-Mother’s Day celebration testing out this recipe. It looks completely divine and I would totally serve it with bacon 😉
Thanks, Patty! We all thoroughly enjoyed the taste testing!
this looks absolutely scrumptious! I would jump into that pillowy bed of chocolate and rasps! When I am away from my loved ones… I like to make them something wonderful for the mail, with little drawings on it, and handwriting, and maybe a collage or some photos. OR, in the same vein, a really fancy longwinded email with links to all the oddest best things.
That’s a fun idea! A lot of people I know (myself included) love having physical prints of photos but so rarely get around to ordering them. I’ll have to do that! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Wow, this looks delish. On holidays I make Ina Garten’s wonderful orange flavored French toast casserole and its always a big hit with my family but adding chocolate and raspberry would probably have them worshiping at my feet. Thanks for the recipe.
Ooh, I haven’t seen Ina Garten’s recipe, but an orange version sounds fantastic! Let me know what you think if you try this one 🙂
This looks totally yummy! As a former Californian myself {42 years there in Northern and Southern Cali until Nov. 2016}, I hear ya on needing some good comfort food when so far away from our former homes! 🙂
Can’t wait to bake this ~ maybe for Hubby when he gets home from this most recent business trip. Thank you! Shared to my Yummy! Pinterest page. Have a great end of your semester! My son and daughter-in-love just graduated last May.
Blessings to you,
Barb 🙂
http://www.frenchethereal.net
Always nice to “meet” a fellow (former) Californian! I’m glad this caught your eye, and I hope you get a chance to try it sometime soon! Thanks for stopping by and for sharing on Pinterest 🙂
Yay! I’m so glad you got to visit your family and share this treat with Mom…even if it was a little bit before actual Mother’s Day. And I’m sure your Mom appreciated this delicious casserole. I mean chocolate + raspberries + French Toast? Sign me up for a slice! And you know what, I bet some crispy, crumbled bacon wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world crumbled on top of this bad boy. I’ll take a nice strong cup of coffee and some of this casserole this weekend, please! 🙂
Yes, it was a really nice visit (with lots of food, naturally)! I hadn’t thought of putting bacon on TOP, but that could make for a nice sweet/savory combo. Have a great weekend!
Food is my love language, too, and my family “hears” it fluently. As it turns out, chocolate is our specialty sub-dialect, which is why I printed this recipe off so fast it almost burned up my printer. Sharing now, too!
Let me know what you think if you give this a try – and thanks so much for sharing it on Facebook! I hope you and your family have a great weekend and that your daughter’s allergies ease up soon. I can certainly relate to the misery of allergies!
Wow as I sit at my desk reading this I’m wishing it was Saturday morning so I could be at home making this!
I’m glad this caught your eye! I hope your Friday goes quickly 😉
I know what I want on Sunday…even if I have to make it!
It’ll be worth it, I promise 🙂 Happy (early) Mother’s Day!
I’m laughing a bit about your Mom’s comment of passing off dessert for breakfast! This looks like a marvelous bread pudding to me!! 🙂 Seriously gorgeous!
i always liked to go to my fave chocolate makers and put together a little package of truffles to send to my Mom.
The concept really is quite similar (if not identical) to bread pudding, BUT if we call it French toast casserole, then it’s acceptable to eat for breakfast 😉 Getting truffles in the mail must be such a sweet surprise! I love that idea.
🙂 I know it’s the same with Coffee Cake and most of the Quick Breads!! 🙂 And half the muffins, lol!!
I wish somebody would make this for me. I never had raspberries on French toasts and this sounds absolutely fantastic! Thanks for sharing, Mara!
I’d make it for you if I could! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great weekend 🙂
This look scrumptious! I love the melty chocolate along with the luscious raspberry sauce together – yum!
It’s hard to go wrong with chocolate and raspberries! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Oh wow this looks so so good! 😮 Have to try this one 🙂 Happy Fiesta!
Thanks, Sarah! Let me know what you think if you try it 🙂
Hehe, I had exactly the same issue the first time I made a breakfast bake like this for my family and included too much chocolate. We all sat around afterwards just like oh man, that should have been dessert, not breakfast, and then we had to sleep off all that sugar. 😉
This looks so good! I love the raspberry and chocolate combo. Pinned!
I’m still having a hard time believing that there really is such a thing as too much chocolate, so I’m glad that your experiences have confirmed this as well! I hope you get a chance to try this sometime – please let me know if you do 🙂
Ohhhh wow!!! This looks incredible!!! You might be a genius :-).
Thanks, Julie! I love creating new varieties of French toast casseroles, and this one did not disappoint!
This looks yummy!
Thanks! I’m glad this caught your eye 🙂
This looks heavenly Mara! My kind of breakfast. Such a treat. I love the raspberry sauce and the streusel!
Thanks, Mary Ann! I was debating whether to include the streusel – I’m glad I did 🙂
This looks so delicious. Good combo of crunchy and soft and you can’t go wrong with raspberries. I’m so glad you added the streusel.
Thanks so much, Marie! The streusel really does add a nice finishing touch 🙂
Oh my gosh, wow!! I am speechless and in awe of how amazing this recipe sounds!
Thanks, Kat! I hope you get a chance to try it sometime 🙂