Happy New Year! OK, so I’m nearly two months late, but that is just how things have been going for me lately. Towards the end of last year we finally got our home under contract after trying to sell it for the past two years and began the arduous process of moving. Of course, at the exact same time, our two children decided to have round robin illness tournament that lasted nearly five weeks. Needless to say with a kitchen mostly in boxes and what felt like a years worth of FSA spending gobbled up in the first month of the year I hadn’t done much cooking at all.

We’ve been in our new house for a few weeks now and are nearly unburied from the move. Thankfully we are finally weening ourselves off the take out we’ve been living on through the transition and I got to cook something from scratch for the first time in what seems like forever. On the first Saturday morning since we moved in where we didn’t have to unpack a stack of boxes I decided to put together a quick stratta so we could relax and enjoy breakfast as a family.

I’ve been a big fan of strattas for a while now and like to make them in both sweet and savory configurations. The picture that accompanies this post is actually the one that I made for my family on Christmas morning where I substituted egg nog for the normal milk and cream and added a touch of nutmeg to give it a bit of a holiday spin.

You can serve these in a number of ways, such as slicing it up like french toast and drizzling some maple syrup on it. Or, if you wanted to cut down on the sweetness first thing in the morning, you could scoop it out and squirt some fresh lemon juice on it to bring a little brightness and acidity to the dish. Still, no matter how you serve it up, it will surely be well received.

Maple Berry Breakfast Stratta

Software

• 1 loaf day old bread (challah or brioche work well), cut into cubes
• 1 1/2 pints berries (I used strawberries and blueberries)
• 8 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 oz mascarpone (or cream cheese)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon cane sugar for garnish
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or bean paste)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Assemblage

1. Bring the mascarpone (or cream cheese) to room temperature and whisk it in a large mixing bowl to aerate
2. Add one egg at a time until all eight are incorporated into the mascarpone
3. Whisk in the cream and milk, then add the maple syrup, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla
4. Fold in the bread cubes, then the berries and pour mixture into a buttered baking dish
5. Lightly sprinkle the remaining sugar on the top of the dish to form a nice crust
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a knife comes out of the center cleanly

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