14 oz stale bread, cubed (I used a leftover lean-dough multigrain artisan style bread)
5 oz cream cheese, cubed
¾ cup fresh or frozen blueberries
zest of 1 orange (reserve the orange for the next morning)
zest of 1 lemon (reserve the lemon for the next morning)
3 T sugar
pinch of salt
6 large eggs
1 cup whole milk (I used cream and 1% because that is what I had)
¼ cup maple syrup
for the blueberry sauce:
¾ cup sugar
1 T cornstarch
¾ cup water
juice of 1 orange (use the one that was zested the night before)
¾ cup fresh or frozen blueberries
pinch of salt
2 t unsalted butter
lemon juice to taste (use the lemon from the night before, and start with 1 teaspoon--but we like a lot more)
Instructions
Lightly butter a 9X12 casserole dish. Place half of the bread cubes into the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the blueberries over these, along with the cubed cream cheese. Then sprinkle the other half of the cubed bread.
Whisk together the orange zest, eggs, milk, salt, sugar and maple syrup. Pour it over the prepared casserole dish. Cover with foil and place in the refrigerator overnight.
The next morning, preheat the oven to 350 F. Remove the casserole from the fridge and let it stand at room temperature for 30 minutes while the oven heats up. After the 30 minutes, place the casserole, still covered with foil, into the oven. Bake, covered, for 40 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for an additional 25 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the blueberry sauce: Blend the sugar and cornstarch in a large saucepan. Mix in the water and the juice of the reserved orange. Place over medium high heat, stirring, until the mixture thickens and becomes clear (it will boil), about 5 minutes.
Add the blueberries and salt and reduce the heat to low. Cook until the blueberries burst, about 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and lemon or lime juice to taste--tasting every teaspoon or so. Set aside and cover to keep warm until the casserole is done.
Recipe by The Spiced Life at https://www.thespicedlife.com/make-ahead-blueberry-breakfast-casserole/