Creme Brulee French Toast (+ Video!)

Name: Overnight Creme Brulee French Toast
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup unsalted butter; 1 cup packed brown sugar; 1 loaf 2 day-old French bread (cut into 1” slices); 5 eggs; 1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream; 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1/2 teaspoon orange extract; 1/4 teaspoon salt; cinnamon

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.

Creme Brulee French Toast tastes like glorious Creme Brulee and can be thrown together in 15 minutes and made the night before for stress free breakfast and entertaining!

This Creme Brulee French Toast Recipe has a delicious golden caramelized toasted outside, is subtly creamy inside and seriously melt in your mouth delicious! I always make this Creme Brulee French Toast Casserole for special occasions like Christmas, Easter, birthdays, etc. because its always a hit and couldn’t be any easier!

Creme Brulee French Toast VIDEO

a tower of Creme Brulee French Toast showing the caramelized sugar topping

PIN THIS RECIPE TO SAVE FOR LATER

Do you like Crème Brulee?

For breakfast?!!!

How about for lunch?

Dinner?

Definitely dessert?

Now you can have Creme Brulee for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert with this ridiculously delectable Creme Brulee French Toast Recipe!

I’ll be the first to admit that I usually never make breakfasts like these for actual breakfast. I’m more of a breakfast for dinner type person. In the case of Creme Brulee French Toast Casserole though, I guess its more like dessert for dinner. So that’s dessert for breakfast for dinner. I’m confused. The point is, with this French Toast, you can get your Creme Brulee fix any time of day. And believe me, you are going to want this every time of the day!

A top view of tall stack of Creme Brulee French Toast with red strawberries on top.

Creme Brulee French Toast Recipe

Ahhhh, Creme Brulee. Silky smooth vanilla custard with a thin crunchy carmalized sugar top. If its on a dessert menu, I don’t even look at the other options. I actually inhaled Creme Brulee last Saturday when we went out for my mom’s birthday. It felt like my birthday. When I saw a Creme Brulee French Toast Recipe in an old church cookbook months ago, I was immediately intrigued, so naturally I googled it and found that it has been done many times before – but never quite like this.

I made a few simple changes to the Six Sister’s Stuff version that resulted in OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD Creme Brulee French Toast. I eliminated the corn syrup, added maple syrup, added orange extract (to mimic the liquor flavor), flipped the toast after baking then broiled them to completely caramelize the top. When I actually shoved a mountainous forkful into my mouth, my eyes grew wide at how much it actually tasted like glorious Creme Brulee!

Let me tell you how that is even possible:

First off, making this French toast is SO EASY! Whip it up in 15 minutes, refrigerate, and then when you are ready to eat, pull your premade sheet out and bake. So fabulous for birthdays or special occasions like Christmas!

WHAT BREAD IS BEST FOR CREME BRULEE FRENCH TOAST?

The best type of bread for French Toast is French Baguette, Brioche, Texas Toast and Challah. Essentially, any thick, sturdy bread will do the trick. I chose French Bread for this Creme Brulee French Toast because every grocery store carries French bread and it’s the most economical.

No matter what bread you choose, make sure it is 2 days old. This ensures the French Toast doesn’t get mushy but instead transforms into toasted on the outside and tender on the inside.

If you don’t have time to wait for your bread to get stale, you can purchase bread the day of making, slice and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes to dry out the slices. Now you’re ready to make Creme Brulee French Toast!

Creme Brulee French Toast on a baking pan fresh from the oven.

INGREDIENTS FOR CREME BRULEE FRENCH TOAST

In addition to bread, you will need:

butter: use unsalted butter
eggs: use large eggs
half and half: use half and half and not milk or heavy cream
brown sugar: use light brown sugar
maple syrup: use pure maple syrup and not the imitation breakfast kind
vanilla extract: use quality extract for the best flavor
orange extract: adds that little something-something special
salt: table salt to enhance the flavors
cinnamon: ground cinnamon to taste

How to make Creme Brulee French Toast:

First, melt butter and brown sugar together then smear it across a large pan…

Then you line the bread slices over top.
Spoon a mixture of eggs, half and half, vanilla, maple syrup and orange extract on top of the bread. Simple and fast right?
At this point you refrigerate the bread for 8 hours up to overnight. During that time, the bread slurps up all of the vanilla egg/half and half mixture like the picture below on the right.

Showing how to make Creme Brulee French Toast by cutting the baguette bread and buttering them.

When you can’t stand the anticipation any longer, sprinkle the saturated bread with cinnamon then bake for 25 minutes then flip the bread over and broil until golden.

Showing how to make Creme Brulee French Toast by baking them with the glaze.

Just look at that caramelized crust…

Showing how to make Creme Brulee French Toast by baking the bread front view.

You now have a Creme Brulee French Toast that has soaked up all of the brown sugar/butter/cinnamon on the outside, eggs/half and half/vanilla/maple syrup/orange extract on the inside to create a golden caramelized toasted shell giving way to a subtly creamy custard-like filling.

If you think that sounds ridiculously, insanely delicious…

You would be right.

TIPS FOR CREME BRULEE FRENCH TOAST

Cut bread thick. May sure your bread slices are about 1″ thick. This will help them not to become soggy.
Use dry bread. As previously mentioned, use 2-day-old bread or dry it out by baking slices for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Use large jelly roll pan. A jelly roll pan is a baking sheet with sides. For this Creme Brulee French Toast recipe, you will need a jelly roll pan measuring 18″x13″x1″ otherwise the bread will not fit and the butter/brown sugar layer will be too thick.
Fit bread to size. You may or may not use all of your bread depending on the size of the loaf. You will want to add as many bread slices as will fit in a single layer on the jelly roll pan.
Use brown sugar/butter mixture immediately. After you melt the butter and brown sugar, immediately pour it onto the jelly roll pan or it will thicken as it cools and become less spreadable. This means you want your jelly roll pan greased and ready to go before you melt the brown sugar/butter.
Use half and half. Please don’t substitute the half and half with milk or the mixture will be too runny and result in soggy Creme Brulee French Toast.
Make your own half and half. If you don’t have half and half stocked, but you have heavy cream, then use half heavy cream and half milk to make your own half and half.
Spoon custard, don’t dip. Most French Toast recipes have you dip the bread in the custard, but for this Creme Brulee French Toast recipe, we want to spoon the mixture onto the bread. This allows the bottom side of the bread to stay in direct contact with the butter/brown sugar mixture.
Chill. Cover and refrigerate the Creme Brulee French Toast for at least 8 hours. This gives the custard time to permeate and really soak into the bread crevices resulting in sublime flavor and texture through and through.

Tall tower of Creme Brulee French Toast syrup and strawberries on top.

WHAT SHOULD I SERVE WITH CREME BRULEE FRENCH TOAST?

This Creme Brulee French Toast tastes sweet enough without any additional toppings, OR you can drizzle with maple syrup. In either case, we always love topping our French toast with fresh berries – strawberries, raspberries, blueberries are all delicious. For a fun departure, you can even drizzle with raspberry syrup, strawberry syrup or blueberry syrup – YUM!

HOW LONG IS CREME BRULEE FRENCH TOAST GOOD FOR?

This Creme Brulee French Toast should be tightly covered or stored in an aright container. When properly stored, it is good for up to 5 days.

HOW TO REHEAT CREME BRULEE FRENCH TOAST?

You can reheat leftover Creme Brulee French Toast two ways:

Microwave: The microwave is good for instant pleasure and individual pieces but you will loose some of the crispy topping. To microwave, add individual slices to a microwave safe plate and microwave for 30-60 seconds. Continue to microwave at 20 second intervals if needed to heat through.
Oven. Reheating leftover Creme Brulee French Toast in the oven will will yield the best results and preserve the crunchy topping. Cover French Toast with foil and bake at 325 degrees F for 10 minutes or until warmed through. Remove foil and broil until lightly crispy again.

An up close of a forkful of Creme Brulee French Toast.

I know what I’m making this Christmas…

And maybe a few in between for breakfast, lunch and dinner…

Looking for more Breakfast Recipes?

Want to try this Creme Brulee French Toast Recipe?

Pin it to your BREAKFAST, HOLIDAY or DESSERT Board to SAVE for later!

Find me on Pinterest for more great recipes! I am always pinning :)!

Servings: people

Total Time: 50

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 30

Save This Recipe To Your Recipe Box

You can now create an account on our site and save your favorite recipes all in one place!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 loaf 2 day-old French bread cut into 1” slices
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
cinnamon

Instructions

In a small sauce pan, melt butter and brown sugar, stirring occasionally until smooth. Pour melted mixture into a lightly greased jelly roll pan (21"x15"x1″ or equivalent), and spread out evenly over the bottom of the pan.
Arrange bread slices in a single layer to cover the pan (as many as will fit).
Add eggs to a medium bowl and beat for 1 minute, then whisk in half and half, maple syrup, vanilla, orange extract and salt. Pour or spoon mixture evenly over each piece of bread then lightly sprinkle bread with cinnamon. Cover, and refrigerate at least 8 hours, or overnight.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees (175 degrees C) for 25-30 minutes or until lightly golden then flip all the slices of bread over and broil until the tops are golden.
Top with syrup, berries, whipped cream, etc.

Video

Notes

Don't miss the "how to make" recipe video at the top of the post!

TIPS & TRICKS

Cut bread thick. May sure your bread slices are about 1" thick. This will help them not to become soggy.
Use dry bread. As previously mentioned, use 2-day-old bread or dry it out by baking slices for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Use large jelly roll pan. A jelly roll pan is a baking sheet with sides. For this Creme Brulee French Toast recipe, you will need a jelly roll pan measuring 18"x13"x1″ otherwise the bread will not fit and the butter/brown sugar layer will be too thick.
Fit bread to size. You may or may not use all of your bread depending on the size of the loaf. You will want to add as many bread slices as will fit in a single layer on the jelly roll pan.
Use brown sugar/butter mixture immediately. After you melt the butter and brown sugar, immediately pour it onto the jelly roll pan or it will thicken as it cools and become less spreadable. This means you want your jelly roll pan greased and ready to go before you melt the brown sugar/butter.
Use half and half. Please don't substitute the half and half with milk or the mixture will be too runny and result in soggy Creme Brulee French Toast.
Make your own half and half. If you don't have half and half stocked, but you have heavy cream, then use half heavy cream and half milk to make your own half and half.
Spoon custard, don't dip. Most French Toast recipes have you dip the bread in the custard, but for this Creme Brulee French Toast recipe, we want to spoon the mixture onto the bread. This allows the bottom side of the bread to stay in direct contact with the butter/brown sugar mixture.
Chill. Cover and refrigerate the Creme Brulee French Toast for at least 8 hours. This gives the custard time to permeate and really soak into the bread crevices resulting in sublime flavor and texture through and through. v

Did You Make This Recipe?

Tag @CarlsbadCravings and Use #CarlsbadCravngs

Leave a Review, I Always Love Hearing From You!