Crème Brûlée French Toast Casserole

Put away the kitchen torch—you won’t need it for this crème brûlée French toast casserole. In fact, you don’t need a skillet or even a griddle for this recipe because it gets baked rather than pan-fried. It’s more like a bread pudding than what we would typically call French toast.

This classic Gourmet recipe was first printed in 1998 after a reader requested the dish, having tasted it at Inn at Sunrise Point in Camden, Maine. At the time this was one of the inn’s signature breakfast dishes, which owners Rich and Jackie Diehl credited to Barbara Furdyna, former owner of La Maison, a now-closed French country inn in Spring Lake, New Jersey.

This is not the kind of French toast you can make in the morning on a whim—it requires at least an eight-hour soak in the fridge, or you can make it up to 24 hours in advance. That means this is the perfect make-ahead Saturday project to prep for Sunday brunch. There’s plenty of room to play with this recipe. The Diehls favored a round loaf with the crusts cut off, while Furdyna used challah at La Maison. It also works well with thick slices of baguette. Whichever bread you choose, the end result will be creamy and custardy, with sweet and floral hints of vanilla and orange that’ll keep you coming back for more.