Recipe Background
A flavorful baked croissant dish, ideal for soaking overnight to impress friends.
The Perfect Orange Bake found its place in my life during an unusually colorful game night with friends. It began with a pantry full of oranges and what seemed like an accident. I had been working on a breakfast spread when my best friend challenged me to turn something mundane into the evening’s centerpiece. Going through my cluttered shelves, a jar of orange marmalade called out to me, begging to be combined with the apricot preserves I had leftover from a Sunday brunch. The zestiness of oranges always brought a glimmer of nostalgia for me, reminiscent of a sunlit kitchen from childhood.
Once I figured out the key ingredients, the idea struck. Croissants, those flaky delights, were the right vehicle for creating something both sweet and hearty. Placing them in the baking dish, I realized this could be something special if given a little time to soak in the flavors overnight. That night, as the mix of almond extract and half-and-half bathed the croissants, I was half-worried and half-excited to reveal my creation. A whole game night’s reputation lay in the balance!
Morning arrived, and the aroma of baking oranges and vanilla was the first thing to greet my friends, who were already bleary-eyed and reminiscing about last night’s fun. The reveal of the baked dish was met with wide-eyed surprise. I found that letting it rest a good five minutes before serving allowed the flavors to settle, and the knife to cut through cleanly. Served with strawberries on top, it turned an ordinary Friday into a memorable gathering that none of us would soon forget. The chatter stopped only to praise what would become a new game-night tradition.
Ingredients
- 1 (8-ounce) jar orange marmalade
- 1/2 cup apricot preserves
- 3 teaspoons orange zest
- 1/3 cup orange juice
- 10 croissants split
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
- fresh strawberries optional, to taste, quartered, for serving
Directions
- Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- In a small bowl, add the orange marmalade, the apricot preserves, the orange zest, and the orange juice and whisk to combine.
- Evenly spread the marmalade mixture on the bottoms of the split croissants.
- Replace the tops of the croissants.
- Cut the croissants in half vertically.
- Arrange the halved croissants in the prepared baking dish.
- In a separate bowl, add the eggs, the half-and-half, and the almond extract and whisk to combine.
- Pour the egg mixture over the croissants in the baking dish.
- Cover the baking dish and refrigerate it for at least 8 hours and up to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Transfer the casserole from the refrigerator to the counter while the oven preheats.
- Bake the casserole, uncovered, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.
- Let the casserole stand for 5 minutes.
- Serve the casserole topped with the strawberries.
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