Overnight French toast: Perfect for Christmas morning

For the French toast:

 1 loaf French bread, torn into bite-sized pieces

8 eggs

2 cups milk (I used 2 percent)

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)

For the topping:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup cold butter, cubed

For serving:

pure maple syrup

Grease a 9- by 13-inch casserole dish. Distribute the torn bread evenly in the dish. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, brown sugar, vanilla and bourbon (if using) until it's smooth and the sugar is dissolved. Pour the custard evenly over the bread, pressing the bread down into the mixture gently until fully coated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

To make the topping: in a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Using a pastry blender, cut in the cold butter until the mixture is crumbly. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover the French toast and sprinkle it evenly with all of the cinnamon crumble mixture. Bake for 45 minutes, until puffed up, browned and set in the center. Slice into squares and serve while warm with pure maple syrup. Recipe adapted from Food Network.

Maya Wilson lives in Kenai and blogs about food at alaskafromscratch.com. Have a food question or recipe request? Email maya@alaskafromscratch.com and your inquiry may appear in a future column.

Banoffee Pie

 Recipe from Marel and Tom Stock

Banoffee Pie recipe refined according to our experience

Cover the cans of sweetened condensed milk in water in a pot, bring to a boil, then move heat to low (just high enough to keep movement in the water). Cook 4 hours, checking occasionally to ensure the water level doesn't drop below the top of the cans. After the 4 hours, wait for the water to cool for about 10 minutes and then remove the cans.

Graham cracker crust:

1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/4 wheat bran (or another 1/4 cup of crumbs if bran not available)

1/3 cup turbinado sugar

6 tbsp melted butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Combine crust ingredients and press into pan, bake at 375 for 7 minutes. Once the crust has cooled, spread 1 1/2 cans of toffee into the crust. Cut 2 bananas lengthwise, and lay on the toffee, following the curve of the pan, and cutting bananas where necessary to make them fit. For the topping mix 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups of cream with several (4-6) grated truffles and a few tablespoons (2-3) of sugar and whip until it holds its shape, and then spread onto the pie. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

I think the original banoffee pie uses a digestive biscuits ...