buttermilk soaked overnight marionberry french toast

If there’s one thing we don’t keep stocked up on in our house, it’s buttermilk. The only time I really buy it is when Jacob requests buttermilk pancakes (although he prefers then with white flour… but he doesn’t get his way :)).

When I was grocery shopping the week before last I saw that a quart of buttermilk was in sale for $1.  A steal of a deal. I picked up two. They were 2 weeks from expiration, so I figured I’d be able to work through them by then with pancakes, waffles + biscuits.

Sounds manageable right?

Well, just 2 days later my mom brings me a cooler full of perishable food from her fridge she didn’t want to go to waste (they left that day for a week vacation + a week of cruising…. rough life huh?). I of course accepted it happily.

Then to my surprise I saw 2 more quarts of buttermilk! I was glad to see that one was half empty, but that meant I had almost an entire gallon of buttermilk in the house.

Bottoms up Jacob 🙂

The next day I made a quadruple batch of my whole wheat buttermilk pancakes. Simple breakfasts all week long. That weekend I made a bunch of Jenna’s oat biscuits (which I now see were actually scones) with whole wheat flour + buttermilk instead of regular milk. Genius idea.

I poured out the half empty one because it expired and, well I had a lot of buttermilk on hand!

Next I made a simple crustless cheesy potato quiche with buttermilk in it instead of regular milk. I’ll have to recreate it again because I loved it!

What else did I make?  It’s even better than it looks.

Buttermilk soaked overnight marionberry french toast.

Say that 10 times fast.

This was by far my favorite creation! Buttermilk seems to pair up perfectly with fruit. The slight tang + sweetness together can’t be beat.

I used frozen marionberries here, a pacific northwest specialty. If you can’t find marionberries, I suggest subbing with blackberries or raspberries, or really any berries. I choose my berries wisely because I know Jacob loves these (especially in pie….).

What do you think, did I turn lemons into lemonade… Errrr butter into buttermilk???

I think so!

With just 1/2 a quart left I’m debating on making more biscuits or more overnight french toast, which would you pick?

Buttermilk Soaked Overnight Marionberry French Toast
Adapted from Nicole’s overnight blueberry french toast

serves 5-6

Ingredients

• 6 slices grainy bread, cut into cubes (I used Dave’s killer bread)
• 1 cup marionberries (fresh or frozen)
• 6 large eggs
• 2 tbsp natural cane sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Directions

1. In a large bowl mix together the eggs, buttermilk, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and coconut. Toss the cubed bread in that mixture and pour into a baking dish coated with oil spray (I used a shallow quiche dish). Sprinkle the marionberries on top.
2. Cover the pan with plastic wrap or foil. Let chill in refrigerator overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350 F.
4. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, then crank up the heat to 425 F and bake an additional 15 minutes. It should fluffy and golden when done.
5. You can serve with syrup, but I highly suggest a spoonful of peanut butter! It melts nicely on the hot outta the oven breakfast.

As you can tell from the photos, I was a little impatient and wanted to eat r.i.g.h.t a.w.a.y. And a BIG piece at that!

Super easy and now I’ve still got breakfast for today. Gotta love that.  Time to dig in!

What’s your favorite use for buttermilk? Links are welcome!

Hope you have a wonderful Saturday and enjoyable weekend! We’re getting together with some friends for dinner and hopefully heading out to get nursery paint soon… fingers crossed!

Heather