6 croissants, some ham, cheese, milk and eggs~
And you have a scrumptious brunch casserole in the making
I combined several of my favorite and classic recipes for this casserole, ham and cheese croissants, baked ham and cheese party rolls, and monte cristo sandwiches.
In the popular Ham and Cheese Party Sandwiches recipe, butter and mustard are combined with finely minced onion, Worcestershire, and poppy seeds for the spread on the rolls. I combined butter and mustard, but chose not to use the Worcestershire this time and eliminated the poppy seeds {don’t like them in my teeth} and just chopped a little sweet onion
Spread the mustard butter on the halved croissant bottoms and top with onion
OR SUBSTITUTE your favorite preserves, such as raspberry and eliminate the onion
I chopped the ham because I was using fairly thick deli sliced ham, and chopping makes it much easier to eat and serve. If you use shaved ham chopping isn’t necessary
Add some thinly sliced turkey if you want a Monte Cristo version
Place the bottom halves in a sprayed baking dish and top with a liberal amount of ham and cover with a slice of cheese. I used X-Sharp White Cheddar because I wanted the tangy flavor, but use Swiss, Havarti, Fontina, Gruyere, whatever you like.
Cover cheese with croissant top halves
Beat eggs with milk and season.
Pour over croissants in casserole.
This recipe makes enough liquid to submerge the croissants about 1/2 way.
Push croissants down into liquid to get some on the bread tops. Sprinkle with some grated Parmesan cheese.
Cover and refrigerate overnight, then bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, covering after the first 20 minutes.
You can serve whole croissants or cut into squares
Next time I am going to add some sliced almonds, I wish I had thought of that sooner!!
NOTE: I still had some croissants left so I made up some extra sandwiches and wrapped them individually and tucked them in the freezer for a grab and go breakfast or lunch on the run
Here’s the recipe
CROISSANT BRUNCH CASSEROLE
Ingredients
- 6 croissants
- 2 T butter
- 2 T mustard or 6 T preserves
- 1/2 cup minced onion [optional]
- 1/2 lb shaved or deli sliced ham OR 1/4 lb shaved ham and 1/4 lb shaved turkey
- 3 slices or 3 oz. extra sharp white cheddar or other white cheese, or used grated
- 5-6 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups 2% milk or half and half
- Parmesan cheese to taste
- sliced almonds optional
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Slice croissants.
- Combine softened butter with mustard and spread on bottom halves, or spread halves with preserves.
- Top with onions if desired.
- Place bottoms in a cooking oil sprayed casserole dish.
- Place meat over bottoms and cover with 1/2 slice cheese or 1/2 oz grated cheese.
- Put tops on croissants. Beat eggs and milk together well and season. Pour over croissants and press croissants down into liquid. Liquid will come about half way up croissant sides.
- Sprinkle with Parmesan. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 uncovered for 20 minutes. Replace cover and continue to bake 25 minutes or until set. Serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.
Enjoy!
_________________________________
I’ll be joining these fabulous blogs