i made some pumpkin pie last weekend for a friends-giving party we were invited to (thanks osbournes!) and after i filled my pie crust, i had about 1 1/2 cups of extra pie filling that i just couldn't throw away. so i did a little pinterest search for what to do with extra pie filling and surprisingly, nothing really came up except some muffins and i just thought muffins would be a waste of precious pie filling. so i started thinking about everything that is in pie filling: sugar, eggs, evaporated milk, and it is very similar to the custard-part of a french toast bake.
so i did a little bit of experimenting and came up with this pumpkin chocolate chip french toast bake, which was spectacular. my husband is not the biggest pumpkin fan and he raved about it, which is saying something because he's kind of a picky eater. the chocolate chips add a bit of decadence and i imagine the french toast bake would be just fine if you chose to omit them, but yolo guys, it's the holidays. throw in some chocolate chips, why don't ya? i topped it with my favorite buttermilk vanilla syrup that can't be beat. if you make this once, you will never go back to maple syrup. i always keep a tupperware in my fridge ready because it is just that good.
i chose to store this overnight and bake it in the morning for breakfast, but it would probably work if you chose to bake it right after you made it too! (but hey, no promises.)
pumpkin chocolate chip french toast bake
approximately 1 1/2 cups extra pumpkin pie filling
3/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 handful of chocolate chips
8-10 pieces of bread (any type of bread will be fine, i used an old load of potato bread i had been keeping in my fridge)
2 tablespoons cold butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons flour
vanilla buttermilk syrup
1 stick of butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
for french toast bake:
1. add milk and vanilla to pumpkin pie filling.
2. cut bread into pieces and add to pumpkin mixture until bread absorbs all the moisture. sprinkle in chocolate chips and toss until incorporated.
3. pour mixture into buttered 9x9 pan and cover with foil. keep in fridge over night.
4. preheat oven to 350 degrees. mix the cold butter with sugars and flour until you get a crumble mixture. top pumpkin french toast with crumble right before you put it in the oven.
5. bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes, or until top gets slightly brown and everything gets bubbly/happy/hot.
6. while french toast is baking, prepare buttermilk syrup.
for buttermilk syrup:
1. combine butter. sugar and buttermilk in a sauce pan and heat until boiling. allow mixture to boil for one minute.
2. remove pan from heat and add baking soda and vanilla.
note: this syrup will get bubbly when you add the baking soda, so use a pan that allows room! you don't want overflowed syrup covering your stove.