This one came from Mike Cleveland, a coworker and friend. It was his Christmas-morning tradition, and one year he shared the recipe with me. I've made it every Christmas for more than twenty years now — twenty mornings of caramel and coffee, kids in pajamas getting older a year at a time, the smell pulling everyone to the kitchen. Mike passed during COVID. The recipe stays on the table, his name with it.
You assemble it the night before, slide it in the oven while the coffee brews, and 40 minutes later you pull out a pan that's somewhere between bread pudding, French toast, and the caramelized top of a real crème brûlée. The bottom of the bread sits in a dark, buttery caramel that turns into the sauce when you flip each piece onto the plate.
Serves 6 to 8 · 20 minutes active, 8 hours chilling, 40 minutes baking
Ingredients
The caramel base
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 tbsp light corn syrup (this prevents the caramel from crystallizing — don't skip)
The bread
- 1 loaf good French bread, brioche, or challah
— French bread is traditional, but brioche is the upgrade if you can get it
— about 1 lb or enough to fit your dish in a single layer with the slices touching
The custard
- 5 large eggs
- 1½ cups half-and-half (or 1 cup whole milk + ½ cup heavy cream)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp Grand Marnier (or any orange liqueur — Cointreau works, brandy works, even a splash of dark rum)
- ¼ tsp salt
- Pinch of nutmeg (optional but lovely)
- Zest of half an orange (optional — adds brightness)
To finish
- Powdered sugar for dusting
- Fresh berries
- Pure maple syrup at the table
Method
The night before
1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the brown sugar and corn syrup. Cook, stirring, until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is smooth and glossy — about 3 minutes. Don't boil it hard, just dissolve.
2. Pour the caramel into a 9x13 baking dish, tilt to cover the bottom evenly.
3. Trim the crusts off the bread if it's a stiff French loaf (skip if using brioche or challah — soft enough as-is). Slice it about 1 inch thick.
4. Arrange the bread in a single layer over the caramel. The slices should touch each other and cover the surface — squeeze them in tightly. Don't stack.
5. Whisk the eggs, half-and-half, vanilla, orange liqueur, salt, nutmeg, and orange zest in a bowl until completely smooth. Pour evenly over the bread.
6. Press the bread down gently so it soaks up the custard. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours, or overnight. This is the critical step — the bread needs hours to fully absorb the egg mixture and become custardy throughout. A 30-minute soak gives you French toast; an 8-hour soak gives you something closer to bread pudding.
Morning
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Take the dish out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes to come up to room temperature while the oven heats — going from cold-fridge to hot-oven cracks dishes and makes the baking uneven.
2. Bake uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is puffed, lightly golden, and the center is set (no liquid jiggle when you shake the pan). The caramel on the bottom will be bubbling at the edges.
3. Rest 5 minutes before serving. Run a knife around the edges. Use a spatula to lift each portion and flip it onto the plate caramel-side-up — that caramelized bottom is now the top, and it should be glistening.
4. Finish. Dust with powdered sugar, scatter berries, pass maple syrup at the table for anyone who wants more sweetness.
Notes from the cook
- Stale bread is better than fresh. If your loaf is fresh, slice it the night before and leave the slices out on the counter for a few hours. Dry bread drinks the custard. Fresh bread floats on top and stays gummy.
- Brioche or challah elevates this from "diner" to "hotel brunch." Worth the splurge.
- Don't skip the corn syrup. It's not for sweetness — it's an interfering sugar that keeps the caramel from crystallizing when it cools and reheats. Without it, your caramel turns granular and grainy.
- Make it the night before, fully. Not 30 minutes before, not 2 hours before. Real overnight is the difference between this dish and ordinary French toast.
Notes to elevate
- Brioche or challah from a real bakery. Don't use grocery-store brioche-style hot dog buns. Find an actual loaf. Or bake your own (recipe for another day).
- Brown the butter before mixing the caramel base. Adds a nutty, deeper toffee note to the bottom of the pan.
- Vanilla bean instead of extract. Scrape the seeds of a half-pod into the custard. Black flecks throughout look gorgeous.
- Add cardamom or chai spice. ¼ tsp ground cardamom in the custard transforms it into something subtly exotic. Or a teaspoon of chai spice blend.
- A layer of fresh berries. Press fresh raspberries or sliced strawberries between the bread slices before pouring the custard. They roast and burst, creating jammy pockets.
- Crème fraîche or mascarpone on top. Forget the powdered sugar. A spoonful of cold crème fraîche on top of the warm French toast — sweet, sour, hot, cold, all at once.
- Make a real brûlée crust. After baking, sprinkle a thin even layer of granulated sugar on top and torch it until it cracks like glass. Now it actually is crème brûlée French toast.
- Plate it restaurant-style. Cut neat squares, plate caramel-side up, smear of crème fraîche on the plate, a small handful of macerated berries, dust of powdered sugar, mint leaf, and a tiny pitcher of warm maple syrup alongside. Don't drown the plate.
- Pair with something tart. Citrus salad on the side cuts through the richness — pink grapefruit and orange segments with a drizzle of honey and mint.
Gluten-free
Swap the bread for a GF brioche or challah — Schär makes a brioche that works well, or any GF country loaf that's been sliced and left out to dry. GF bread tends to be softer and more crumbly, so cut it slightly thicker (1¼ inches) and handle gently when arranging.
The custard and caramel are already GF.
Differences: GF bread releases more starch when soaked, so the texture is slightly more custardy and less bread-like — some people prefer this. The flavor and caramelization are unchanged. Verify your brown sugar and powdered sugar are GF-certified if cross-contamination is a concern.
GF vegan version
This is one of the harder conversions because the dish is defined by an egg-and-cream custard. But there's a clean route:
Custard substitute
- ¾ cup full-fat coconut milk + ¾ cup unsweetened oat milk (replaces the half-and-half)
- 3 tbsp cornstarch (provides the body the eggs were giving)
- 2 tbsp ground flaxseed + 6 tbsp water (a "5-flax-egg" worth of flax binding, sit 10 minutes until gelled)
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional — adds a subtle "eggy" note)
- ½ tsp ground turmeric (just a tiny pinch, for color — makes the cooked custard look golden like an egg custard)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup (replaces the sweetness the eggs contribute structurally)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp orange liqueur (verify vegan — most are, but some use animal-based fining agents)
- ¼ tsp salt
- Pinch of nutmeg
Whisk the cornstarch into the cold oat milk first to prevent lumps, then add everything else and whisk thoroughly. The mixture should be thick but pourable.
Caramel base
- Vegan butter (Miyoko's) replaces the butter, same volume
- Brown sugar and corn syrup are already vegan
- Same method
Bread
GF vegan brioche or challah. O'Doughs makes a passable one. Or any sturdy GF vegan country loaf, sliced and dried out.
Differences from the original: the custard is the heart of this dish, and converting it is real engineering work. The cornstarch-flax combination gives you the body and binding the eggs were providing, but the flavor profile is slightly different — less "rich custardy egg" and more "creamy coconut-maple." Some people prefer this once they taste it; some don't. The caramel base behaves identically with vegan butter. The bake time is a touch shorter (30 to 35 minutes vs. 40) because there's no raw egg to cook through. Honest scoring: 8/10 — it's a great breakfast dish in its own right, but a discerning eater can tell it's not the egg-based original. Best served to people who'll judge it on its own merits rather than against a memory of the classic.