Hamantaschen French Toast Casserole

Imagine this: warm, buttery, vanilla and cinnamon scented French toast stuffed with whipped cream cheese and jam.  So good. Now picture that each piece of French toast is shaped and filled like a hamantaschen. Yummy and festive.

Another bonus: this is easily prepped the night before. All you need to do is pop this in the oven the day you want to serve it.

Hamantaschen French Toast Casserole
Fill circles of bread with cream cheese and jam, shape them like hamantaschen, then soak them and bake them as a stuffed French toast casserole. Stuffed French toast casseroles usually use about 8 ounces of cream cheese, but I used half that amount. You could stuff the hamantaschen with more cream cheese for a more decadent result.
4 Tbl. butter
15-18 slices bread (about one loaf–light whole wheat ok)
5 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk (can use part half-n-half)
1/2 cup sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
4-6 ounces whipped cream cheese
different flavors of jam (I used strawberry and orange marmalade)

Grease a 8×12 casserole pan with butter (you will need about a tablespoon). Save the remaining butter for sprinkling over the top of the casserole.

Cut the crusts off the bread and cut each slice into circles. Sprinkle the bread scraps left over from cutting out circles over the bottom of the greased casserole. Spread each bread circle with cream cheese and top with half a teaspoon of jam. Shape each circle into a hamantaschen shape and place in the casserole pan. The hamantaschen shapes tend to open up, so wedge them together tightly in the pan to prevent this.

Mix together the eggs, milk, cream, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Pour egg mixture over the hamantaschen shapes. Press down to soak the bread thoroughly. Dot the top of the casserole with butter. Cover the casserole tightly with plastic wrap or foil.

Let the casserole sit overnight in the refrigerator. The next morning, uncover the casserole and bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

Serve 8.

Tags: french toast, hamantaschen, hamantashen, Purim, stuffed French toast casserole