Baked Pumpkin French Toast with Ginger Orange Cream Cheese

September 26, 2014 • Autumn, Breads, Breakfast, Recipes, Vegetarian

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Weather: 43 degrees, mostly sunny
What I’m listening to: Love, Matt White

In preparation for making the very first pumpkin dish of the season, I took to my cupboards and pulled out my cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and allspice to make a big batch of my homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix. I’m intent on using every last bit of the warm, spicy autumnal goodness between now and the holidays in anything from hot beverages to oatmeal, and from quick breads to pies.

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Today, it was some marvelous baked pumpkin french toast with a layer of lightly sweetened ginger-orange cream cheese in the middle, all topped with salted pecans. Swoon city.

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Baked Pumpkin French Toast with Ginger Orange Cream Cheese

Baked pumpkin French toast with ginger orange cream cheese in the middle and salted pecans on top. Adapted from Damn Delicious.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Total Time50 minutes
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 682kcal
Author: alaskafromscratch

Ingredients

For the Cream Cheese Filling:

  • 8 ounces cream cheese softened
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest from 1 orange
  • 1 tablespoon crystallized ginger minced
  • ⅓ cup powdered sugar

For the French Toast:

  • 12 slices french bread cubed
  • 1 cup milk
  • ½ cup 100% pumpkin puree
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons butter melted
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • ¼ cup pecans roughly chopped
  • fine sea salt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350℉. Grease a 9x13 oven safe baking dish.
  • In the bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the cream cheese with the orange zest, ginger, and powdered sugar until smooth, scraping sides of the bowl as needed. Set aside.
  • In a mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, pumpkin puree, eggs, butter, sugar, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice until well combined.
  • Place half of the bread cubes in a layer in the greased 9x13 pan. Drizzle half of the pumpkin mixture over the bread. Using a rubber spatula, spread the cream cheese mixture over top of that (it doesn't need to be perfect).
    Top with the remaining bread cubes and drizzle the remaining pumpkin mixture over top of everything. Press the bread down into the liquid to saturate. Sprinkle the top of the french toast with the pecans and finish with fine sea salt.
  • Bake in preheated oven 35-40 minutes, until cooked through in the center. Serve hot with pure maple syrup.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 682kcal | Carbohydrates: 91g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 146mg | Sodium: 975mg | Potassium: 373mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 4008IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 189mg | Iron: 6mg