Christmas Brunch

I love breakfast! Besides dessert it's my most favourite meal.  Christmas mornings tend to be a little rushed in our house, so an easy but filling breakfast is a must!  I was looking for a great overnight French toast recipe that I could just pop in the oven in the morning while we open gifts.  One of my best friends, who just happens to be an amazing cook, gave me this recipe.

It was my first time making it, but I didn't care so much as it was just for my family.  Then it turned out my little one's godparents were going to join us for breakfast, so I was a little nervous about serving a first time recipe.  But seeing as it was a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis, with some modifications from a very trusted friend, there was no way I could go wrong (I hoped!)

Overnight French Toast

Ingredients:
butter, for greasing
6 eggs
3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup maple syrup (plus extra for serving)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 lemon, zested
1 to 1-1/2 baguettes, cut into 1" cubes
3 apples, cored, peeled and chopped

Topping:
1 tbsp cinnamon
3 tbsp sugar

Directions:

1. Butter a 9x13" baking dish and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until frothy.  Add the milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt and lemon zest.  Add the bread cubes and mix until coated.  Stir in the apple chunks.  Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

3. Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate overnight.

4. Preheat oven to 350F.

5. In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon and sugar for the topping.  Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the egg mixture in an even layer.

6. Bake for 45 - 55 minutes until the top is golden and the filling is set.

7. Spoon onto serving plates and drizzle with maple syrup (and more cinnamon sugar if you like!).


This recipe was a huge success!!  There was no leftovers and everyone went for seconds (and even thirds!).  With the whole rush of Christmas morning, I completely forgot to take a picture, but I will definitely be making this recipe again.

Photo of French Toast from Giada's recipe made with
blueberries and not left overnight.

Gluten Free Apple Crisp

I love apple crisp - it is one of those easy comfort foods you can bake up in a matter of minutes.  I even have my little cheats - using oatmeal cookie mix mixed with cinnamon and a touch of brown sugar as my topping drizzled with maple syrup and corn syrup.

But my easy quick go to dessert is no longer possible on my gluten free diet.  So I went on a search for a gluten free version.  I mostly found recipes that used "gluten free oats" but this was not going to be an option.  I thought about the quinoa flakes I had sitting in my cupboard with all the other "gluten free" flours I bought and thought I'd be able to mimic the oats by using them.  So I narrowed down my search some more - and here is what I came up with:

Ingredients:

6 apples (I used Gala), peeled, cored and sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice (to prevent browning)
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp tapioca or arrowroot starch
1 cup quinoa flakes
3/4 cup sorghum flour
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup coconut oil (if you don't need to be dairy free, you can use butter - I find that it adds extra flavour.  For this recipe I used half butter and half coconut oil.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease the bottom and sides of an 8x11" baking dish.  Set aside.

2. Toss the sliced apples in a bowl with lemon juice.  Add the maple syrup and stir.  (At this point I like to sprinkle the apples with some brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to add some extra flavour.)  Dust with tapioca starch to coat the slices.  Pour the slices into the baking dish.

3. In a mixing bowl, combine the quinoa flakes, sorghum flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt and whisk to blend.  Add the coconut oil in pieces and cut it into the flour using a pastry cutter.  It should resemble a sandy mixture.

4. Spoon the mixture over top.  Drizzle with some maple syrup and dab with butter or coconut oil.

5. Bake in the center of the oven for about 20 minutes.  Cover loosely with foil paper and bake for another 20 minutes.  (Depending on the size of your slices, this could take longer.)  The apples should feel tender and the sides should be bubbling.

6. Allow to cool a bit before serving, but it is served best warm.

The results were pretty good. My husband and I definitely missed the bigger clumps/chunks that happen in the crisp when you use oats.  Maybe next time I would use more butter/coconut oil to make it a bit clumpier, but I think the size of the quinoa flakes are the main reason for this.  But for a gluten free version of apple crisp, you really can't go wrong.

The apples

The crumble part

The prepared crumble prior to baking.

The final product (well half of it!)