This stuffed croissant French toast bake was a complete epiphany. Day old croissants, stuffed with flavoured cream cheese and fruit then soaked over night. This is one hell of a brunch that I originally cobbled together after a few wines on a Friday night. Soft, buttery, flaky croissants layered with sweet fruit jam and extra creamy, cream cheese. Then baked in an eggy french toast “batter”. We are lucky to have a fabulous French bakery, La Tropezienne, just down the road from us. They sell bags of day old croissants at a discount price. Fresh croissants will disintegrate in the French toast mixture so slightly stale is best. So have a look and a little ask around; most bakeries will be happy to sell to you.
In New Zealand, Hutchinson’s flavoured cream cheeses are available in most supermarkets. These little circles of creamy cheese are a revelation. I’ve been working my way through the flavours to see what innovative dishes I can come up with. The cranberry and citrus cream cheese is delicious stuffed into chicken or turkey. The apricot and almond is divine with roast pork. For this, I’ve used the pear, hazelnut and vanilla flavour to reflect autumn. The hazelnuts added a lovely crunch to the meltingly soft filling. Have a look at the sweet cream cheese ranges over these cooler months for a sweet little hit in the morning.
For this stuffed croissant french toast, I added slices of fresh pear. After they’ve finished baking, they’ll have gone jammy and delicious. If pears aren’t in season, feel free to mix this up with fruits that are. Sliced green apples or summer apricots would be divine. Fresh summer strawberries will go jammy as they bake; as would gorgeous tamarillos or poached rhubarb in autumn. It lends itself to each and every season; and can be made ahead of time. This richly luscious brunch was perfect with a big pot of coffee and Canadian maple syrup on the side.
Ingredients
- 4x day old croissants
- 1x Hutchinson's Pear, Hazelnut and Vanilla cream cheese
- 2x pears, thinly sliced
- 4x eggs
- 200ml milk
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup blueberries
Instructions
Lightly grease a baking dish that tightly fits each croissant. Slice the croissants open and spread the cream cheese on one half of each croissants. Top the cream cheese with fresh pear slices and gently close. Stack in the baking dish and set aside.
In a jug, whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla essence until combined. Gently pour over the top of croissants in the dish and leave to soak overnight. In the morning, preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Scatter a little ground cinnamon and the blueberries over the top. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden on top and the eggy mix has set.
Serve with maple syrup, fresh yoghurt and extra blueberries on the side.
