In this month’s edition of What’s Cooking at Carriage Corner – I’ve been working on something new.  Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Baked French Toast – Whew!  That’s a mouthful.  It’s been a minute since I’ve shared a recipe, so clearly it’s time.  You can ask Mr. Carriage Corner – bit I get bored with my recipes and making the same things all the time.  Part of the ‘fun’ of having a B&B is getting to try out new things all the time.

I love lemon and blueberries.  Put them together and I am one happy camper.  So, while my regular baked french toast recipe {I use Pioneer Woman’s recipe for the custard, but use sweet bread and add fruit and nuts} which is full of custard-y goodness I went in search of a new one.  As is almost always the case, I went looking for recipes to start with by doing a search of the main ingredients I wanted to use:  Lemon Blueberry  Ricotta.  I found a couple {Self Proclaimed Foodie and Well Floured} and combined and adapted to come up with what I’m using.  This is my version.

Carriage Corner RecipesLemon Blueberry Ricotta Baked French Toast

Ingredients:

  • 2-3 tubes Pillsbury crescent dough – baked and cut into cubes
  • 1 cup full fat ricotta cheese
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 3 eggs
  • 3T sugar
  • 2T vanilla extract
  • juice & zest from 2+ lemons
  • 1 1/2 cups blueberries – fresh or frozen

Directions:

Bake the crescent dough according to the directions.  I have found you can just lay it out on parchment paper and bake.  No need to roll into little crescents before you cut.  You can also use store bought croissants or any other fluffy bread.

In a large bowl mix ricotta, eggs, cream, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and zest.  I like things lemony, so I tend to use the zest and juice from at least 2 lemons but will often use up to 4.  {I’m also thinking about adding lemon curd into this mix, or maybe just serving on the side.}  Add the bread and stir to combine.

Spray an 11×13 baking dish with cooking spray, spread half the bread mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle liberally with blueberries.  Top with remaining bread and blueberries.  Make sure you scrape all that yummy ricotta mixture out of the bowl and into the baking pan.

Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, take the casserole out of the fridge to come up to room temperature while the oven is warming up to 350*.  Also, make a streusel topping:

  • 1/2 C flour
  • 1/4 C packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 t cinnamon
  • 4T melted butter

combine everything until crumbly.  Sprinkle over the top of the casserole.  Re-cover and pop into your preheated oven for 45 minutes.  I leave the pan covered until the last 5 minutes or so.  Otherwise I find the top gets dried out.  You want it to be golden but not dried.

Let cool for about 5 minutes before cutting into 12 pieces.  Once it’s on the plates, sprinkle with powered sugar and serve with a little dollop of lemon curd.  I think this would also be amazing for dessert served warm with lemon sherbet {told you – I love lemon!}

Try this for your next family gathering or church potluck.  Or if you aren’t a fan of cooking – book a room and ask if it’s on the menu 😉