So, this morning, I wanted breakfast. I don’t usually eat much for breakfast, but today was different. I wanted a good breakfast, and by good, I mean sinfully bad. I love french toast, but I didn’t have any bread. Also, I was looking for something to throw in a pan and stick in the oven. After all the holiday baking I’ve done over the last few weeks, I was really looking for something low-maintenance and quick.

I went to Google, and I typed in “French Toast Casserole” to see what recipes I could find. The 1.3 million results popped up, and I started scanning. I found a few pretty good ones, and I started reading the steps. Most of them called for regular bread, torn or cut into pieces, soaked in an egg mixture overnight. With no bread, and no time, that clearly wouldn’t work. Then, I read the comments. Most people said that the casserole turned out kind of like a bread pudding. Soggy, eggy bread. No offense to those of you who enjoy soggy, eggy bread, but it’s just not for me. It’s a texture thing.

Besides the fact that I don’t enjoy bread pudding very much, I only had refrigerated, canned biscuits and 5 eggs on hand. I decided to skip the 1.3 million Google results and just wing it. The result was something kind of magical, at least to me and the Fella. (And the Momma and the Gram, too!) If you aren’t really into the regular french toast bakes because of the sog factor, this recipe is definitely for you.

Ingredients: 

• 1 can (8-count) Grand’s refrigerated biscuits (I used butter tastin’)
• 5 eggs
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar (roughly)
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon (roughly)
• 1/2 cup milk or cream
• 8 small pats of butter
• maple syrup for topping, optional
• powdered sugar for dusting, optional

Preparation:

• Bake the biscuits according to package directions.
• While the biscuits are baking, beat the eggs, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, a few sprinkles of cinnamon, and all of the milk or cream together until well-combined and slightly foamy.
• When the biscuits are done baking, remove them from the oven, and find a pan that will fit the biscuits closely together with little empty room in the pan. I used a smallish 11×7 stone cookie sheet. (Make sure to grease the pan. Eggs are unforgivingly sticky.)
• Place the biscuits closely together on the pan, and pour the egg mixture evenly over the biscuits.
• Be sure that the egg is coating all sides of the biscuits. Get your hands in there and spread it all around. Get a little messy. It’s okay.
• Sprinkle the tops of the biscuits evenly with about 2 Tbsp (or more, if desired) of brown sugar and a few shakes of cinnamon.
• Place one pat of butter on top of each biscuit.
• Bake at 350F for 20 minutes, or until the egg is cooked through.
• Let this rest for about 10 minutes for all the ingredients to absorb and cool a bit.
• Plate the biscuits and top with maple syrup and a dusting of powdered sugar, if desired.

This serves 4 people at 2 pieces each. You can double the recipe if you’re feeding more, and use a larger pan. My reasoning for using a small cookie sheet: the more shallow the pan, the more the biscuits are exposed, resulting in crispier tops. Just be sure to place some foil under the pan in case there is a little spill over. My eggs rose right to the top of the pan with no spillage, but it’s better to be safe than sorry! You can always use a casserole dish if that’s all you have on hand.

As you can see in the picture below, I put my biscuits close together.  They’re lightly covered and are surrounded by a pillowy blanket of eggs. They have crispy, buttery tops with brown sugar and cinnamon goodness all around. It worked exactly the way I wanted it to. A suggestion from the Momma for those who want more egg covering the biscuits: slice the biscuits in half, cover the bottoms with half of the egg mixture, place the tops, and cover with the rest. You can also use a deeper pan and more eggs.

For a real treat and extra, awesome flavor, use egg nog instead of milk or cream. I did this with mine because we had some in the fridge for the holidays. It was so good! If you don’t have egg nog, use some flavored coffee creamer. That’s how Momma makes her traditional french toast, and it’s amazeballs.