What is the best part of celebrating any holiday? Leftovers! The best part of celebrating a Jewish holiday? Leftover challah! HOLLA!
What is challah? It is a traditional egg bread that is very soft on the interior and golden brown on the outside. When I was growing up, we only ate challah on the Jewish holidays or other special occasions. Nowadays you can buy or eat it, anywhere at any time.
But for me, it’s still something special. So whenever my family celebrates Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur or even Thanksgiving, we always have some challah lying around, so my Overnight Challah French Toast was born.
Challah is great for sandwiches, grilled cheese, croutons or bread pudding. However, I think its second best preparation (besides being smeared with salty butter) is Challah French Toast. Challah is very similar to brioche since they are both rich, eggy and porous. Its sponge-like texture is perfect for soaking up the rich batter and bakes beautifully.
It’s worth noting that I am a little lazy, especially after cooking for big holidays. The “overnight” aspect in this recipe is very important. This means that you can relax and enjoy your company while the French toast bakes in the oven. That’s right…no more standing in front of the stove flipping pieces of French toast all morning. Throw the dish together the night before and then pop it in the even the next day. Sit down and enjoy your coffee while pinning all your favorite Fork My Life recipes.
By soaking the challah overnight, the result is a creamy, decadent, almost bread pudding-like dish. There’s also less mess, therefore, less cleanup! Woo hoo! Who doesn’t love that?
- 12 oz raisin challah, sliced into 1/2″ pieces
- 2 whole eggs
- 4 egg whites
- 1 cup skim milk
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- non-stick cooking spray
- real maple syrup, for serving
- Slice the challah into 1/2″ pieces and set aside
- Whisk together whole eggs, egg whites, skim milk, cinnamon, vanilla extract and salt
- Spray a 9×9 glass-baking dish with cooking spray
- Line the dish with the slices of challah into 2 layers
- Pour the batter over the slices of challah
- Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight
- Next day: take out the challah French toast preheat the oven to 325°
- Bake the overnight challah french toast for 45-60 minutes or until cooked through a golden brown on the top
- Take out the bread pudding and let it hang out for 10 minutes so the bread pudding settles
- Cover with a drizzle of maple syrup
One of my favorites, with or without the syrup.