Blueberry French Toast - Overnight Preparation

This recipe takes some pre-planning, but the rich desert the next morning is well worth the work.

Ingredients:
French Toast 
12 slices of day-old white bread or toasted bread
2 (8oz) packages of cream cheese
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
12 eggs
2 cups of milk
1/3 cup of maple syrup or honey

Sauce
1 cup of sugar
2 Tbs cornstarch
1 cup of water
1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries
1 Tbs. butter or margarine

Directions:
Tear bread into 1-inch cubes and place half of the cubes in a 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish.  Cut cream cheese into 1 inch cubes and place cubes over bread cubes in the baking dish. Layer one cup of blueberries over cream cheese and bread.  Cover with the remaining bread cubes.  Beat eggs in a large bowl.  Add milk and honey and stir to combine.  Pour over the bread mixture.  Cover and chill for at least 8 hours.  Remove dish from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Uncover dish and continue cooking for 25-30 minutes until the center is set and the top is golden brown.

In a saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch.  Add water.  Bring to a boil over medium heat and keep boiling for three minutes while stirring constantly.  Reduce heat and stir in blueberries.  Simmer for 8-10 minutes until the berries have burst.  Stir butter into the sauce until melted.  Serve over French Toast.

Yield: 6-8 servings.

Traditional Blueberry Pancakes

A great recipe for a leisurely Saturday morning!

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. Sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 beaten egg
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen work equally well)

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.  In another bowl, mix buttermilk, oil and the egg.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until well combined.  Gently fold in blueberries.  Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto a hot skillet, turning when bubbles appear on top of pancakes.

Yield: 8 pancakes