The perfect make-ahead dish for Christmas brunch! Start soaking the bread the night before and then all you have to do in the morning is add the topping and pop it in the oven. Sure to be the star of Christmas breakfast!
Eggnog Cranberry Overnight French Toast
Eggnog Cranberry Overnight French Toast
The perfect make-ahead dish to feed a crowd on Christmas morning!
Makes
12 servings
Active time:
15 minutes
Total Time:
Overnight
Good For:
Dessert, Breakfast
Inroduction
About this Recipe
Way back in 2008, I received Cooking Pleasures magazine as part of my Cooking Club of America subscription. That year, their holiday edition had a recipe that caught my eye for this overnight French toast. As it happens, I was hosting Christmas breakfast that year, so I decided to try it out. It was a HIT! Usually brunch is at my mom’s house and everyone brings a dish, and every year since then, this is what I bring.
Over the years, I’ve changed and tweaked the original recipe to fit my own preferences and my family’s size and needs, so what you see here is more inspired by that original than a direct share…but it’s become a big Christmas tradition. I joke that I might not be allowed in the house on Christmas morning if I don’t come bearing these pans of French toast!
A note: If you don’t want to prep it the night before, it’s totally fine to do everything right before you bake it as well. Follow the directions as they’re written below, except start preheating the oven as step 1 and skip the “cover and chill” step entirely. I did it all at once to get the photo for this recipe, and it was just as delicious as it was on Christmas morning, after it’s night in the fridge.
Ingredients
Instructions
Bread
- 2 loaves bakery Italian bread, pre-sliced (you’ll use about 1.5 loaves)
- 2 cups store-bought eggnog
- 8 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 12-oz bag of cranberries, fresh or frozen (you don’t need to use them all)
Topping
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter, chilled and cut up
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2/3 cup chopped pecans
- Start the night before. Lightly grease two cake pans (I like to get the disposable foil pans for easy cleanup on a busy Christmas morning.)
. - Whisk eggnog, eggs, milk, and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
. - Dip each piece of bread in the mixture, making sure both sides are covered. Arrange the bread in the pans (however much will fit—I usually need a loaf and a half.)
. - Sprinkle the cranberries (whole) over the top, as many as you like. I usually use about 2/3 of the bag.
. - Cover and store in the fridge overnight.
. - In the morning, preheat the oven to 400º. As the oven heats, get your topping ingredients ready.
. - Make the streusel topping by cutting together the butter and brown sugar with a pastry cutter or two knives. Sprinkle over the bread.
. - Bake for 15 minutes. Pull the bread out and add the pecans, then bake for another 15 minutes, until it’s golden brown.
. - Wow your family or friends and enjoy!
From the Books
Okay, so this isn’t featured in any of my stories…but with a growing number of Christmas titles, we can assume that characters somewhere or another would enjoy this easy make-ahead breakfast on that holy morning!
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Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.