Woodies Creme Brulee French Toast!

CrÃme Brulee French Toast (Woodie)

1 Stick Butter
1 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Tbl Corn Syrup
1 10 inch round country loaf or
1 Lb French bread or 1 Challah
5 eggs
1 1/2 Cup half and half
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 Tsp Grand Marnier (optional)
1/4 Tsp salt

1. Melt butter, sugar and corn syrup in saucepan over moderate heat. Pour into 9 X 13 pan.
2. Slice bread into 6 slices and place on top of the sauce in the 9 X 13 pan, press together to fit.
3. Whisk together eggs, half and half, Vanilla, Grand Marnier and salt. Pour over bread.
4. Cover and chill 8 to 24 hours.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes, until puffy and brown.

I also do a baked egg, sausage or bacon and cheese casserole.

We usually have one of those awful for you full of fat breakfast casseroles. Cheese, eggs, and sausage....Yum!

I copied this Cinnabon clone recipe from Allrecipes almost 5 years ago and have made it many times. I see that it's still going strong on Allrecipes site. I use butter instead of margarine in the dough. I used to shape them before I went to bed Christmas Eve and put them in the fridge, then take them out about an hour before I want to bake them. The past few Christmas Eves, I've gone to bed around 2 or 3 and just left them out on the countertop overnight to rise. Put them in them oven around 8 or 9 and they came out fine.

Allrecipes Clone of a Cinnabon

INGREDIENTS

1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup margarine, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS
Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.

After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

We always put out a bowl of homemade fruit cup, mini muffins, coffee/tea and juice and that seems to satisfy everyone until we have a proper brunch with breakfast casseroles, quiches, baked ham, etc.

Sausage balls and doughnuts are special here because we only eat them once a year. Officially, that is. I do, uhmm, occasionally eat a doughnut.

We have an assortment of fresh bagels with cream cheeses and mimosas!

Breakfast casseroles, quiches, mini bagels with cream cheese, fruit, juices, coffee & tea.

I always make pans and pans of sticky buns the day before. I wrap about 3 pans in foil as they come hot from the oven and reheat as soon as the first kid pops out of bed Christmas morning.
They open stockings, we sleepily drink juice and coffee while they are doing that and then we all go into the family room where the tree is and get serious with the coffee and gooey rolls, and soon it's time to start with the frying onions etc for the stuffing.
My daughter and her clan arrive about noon ( and the turkey had better be in the oven by then!!) and I set out lots and lots of stuff. Always there are shrimp and cheese and an assortment of crackers. Often I have leftover beef filet from Christmas eve and that gets served with horseradish sauce, and always some salmon, usually a small hunk grilled with a terayaki sauce. Almost always there are "bitty dogs"...those little smokie sausages, with a kid friendly ketchup-ey sweet sauce, often meatballs, sometimes I serve that pickled Balogna thing I call "snackers" sometimes a liver pate and always a chip dip of 2...lately it's been cranberry chutney and "Linda's famous cheese ball"...Celery, carrots, broccoli etc and a veggie dip.
And Mimosas and bloody Marys and wine and coke and juice and gallons of chocolate milk and martinis and egg nog with out the "nog"...it's a wonder anyone can fix dinner!...and that anyone wants to eat it!
Linda C

Linda C - can we come to your house this year??

seagrass

Can we have the recipe for Linda's famous cheese ball.

You all are great with the ideas for me.

thanks,Patti

Linda, I need your address..... hahahah!!!

I make cinnamon rolls from Joy of Baking site. The best I've ever had! On Christmas Eve, I make how ever many so I give to neighbors and friends for Christmas morning. Sometimes, it is 8 to 12 dozen rolls! They are always welcomed!

I gave one pan of cinnamon buns last year to a neighbor who always gifts us with her lumpia. I think this year, I might add a few pans to a few other neighbors.

I've been serving this breakfast for over 6 years. The kids look so forward to having breakfast here at home before moving on to the other homes they visit on Christmas. I was determind to find a way to be able to have the kids *want* to come to our house first. LOL! Now they can't wait until Christmas Morning. We have learned that you can hold an empanada in one hand and open gifts with the other...I double this recipe.

Makes 4 servings (2 empanadas per serving)
Prep: 20 min., Cook: 5 min., Bake: 16 min.

6 oz. PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 1/2 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley or
1 1/2 tsp. dried parsley flakes
3/4 tsp. seasoned salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2/3 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp. butter
5 large eggs, beaten
1 (17.3-oz.) can refrigerated jumbo
flaky biscuits
8 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
Vegetable cooking spray
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 to 2 tsp. sesame seeds (optional)
Assorted fresh fruit (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Stir together first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl until blended; stir in cheese.
3. Melt butter in a 9-inch skillet over medium heat; add eggs, and cook, without stirring, until eggs begin to set on bottom. Draw a spatula across bottom of skillet to form large curds. Continue cooking until eggs are slightly thickened but still moist. (Do not stir constantly.) Remove from heat, and let cool.
4. Flatten each biscuit into about a 5-inch circle. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over tops of dough circles, leaving 1/2-inch border around edge. Top evenly with scrambled eggs and bacon.
5. Fold dough circles in half over mixture, pinching edges to seal; place, 2 inches apart, in a 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan coated with cooking spray. Brush tops evenly with egg white; press sealed edges with tines of a fork. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if desired.
6. Bake at 375° for 14 to 16 minutes or until golden brown. Remove empanadas to wire rack, using a spatula. Serve warm and, if desired, with fresh fruit.
Note: Store leftover empanadas, completely cooled, in zip-top plastic bags or wrapped in plastic wrap in refrigerator. To reheat, wrap empanadas in paper towels and microwave at MEDIUM (50% power) for 1 to 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

We also have a fruit triffle, coffee, Mimosa's and Bloody Mary's.

These are a hit when I bring them to the office:

Sausage Crescent Nuggets
Source: somewhere in cyber space

1 lb. well seasoned sausage - I like Jimmy Dean brand
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 pkg. crescent roll dough
1 egg or just the white
poppy seeds
Preheat oven to 350. In skillet, brown sausage, drain well. While sausage is still warm, add cream cheese and stir until melted and creamy. Cool.
Separate dough into two rectangles. Pinch perforations to seal the dough. Form a log of the sausage/cream cheese mixture lengthwise down the center of each rectangle of dough. Fold sides of dough over, covering the sausage log. Place on an ungreased baking sheet, seam side down. Brush with beaten egg, sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake 20 minutes at 350 until golden brown. Cool. Slice into 1/2" slices.

These can be baked, frozen, thawed, and warmed before serving.

You can sub 2 cans drained chopped mushrooms for the sausage. Add a little dried marjoram, thyme or Italian herb seasoning. Or try adding some jalapenos!

Riverrat, those empanadas sound great! Can you assemble them the night before and bake that morning or would they get soggy?

Re what to eat.... I was known when my boys were little to relax my rules for eating sweets and have Christmas cookies as one of the breakfast "courses"... it was a huge hit since it was normally taboo! Now we find that aside from some fruit we are craving something meaty or with a lot of proteing and NOT sugary that morning.

Grace (gbsim)