Brunch: Blueberry Brie Bake

It's been some time since I posted about our homemade family brunches. I have a few backlogs to go, but here's one of the brunches we had three months ago in April (yes, I went back to track the date through Instagram...).

On the table

Bread; Brie

As always, there's usually a main dish, a carbs dish (if the main is not a carbs dish), a side salad and sweet item to round things off. There's six people at the table, so I more or less have figured out the amount of food to prepare for our appetites.

Step-by-step

On the table (left to right): Mango chicken salad with honey mustard dressing, black sesame chiffon cake, blueberry brie bake with macerated strawberries topping, sweet potato hash baked eggs and various coffee mugs.

I kinda loved how two of the brunch dishes for this brunch made use of the oven to do most the work. BUT at the same time, I kinda underestimated the baking time for both the blueberry brie bake and the sweet potato hash baked eggs. Thus had to run back to replace both dishes into the oven to continue cooking further again a while more after we had started tucking in ha!

Blueberry brie bake with macerated strawberries topping

I thought that the blueberry brie bake (lol at the alliteration) was essentially like a baked bread pudding. Loved the crunchy buttery bread cubes! It would have been better if the blueberries had bubbled over to become all gooey-like and there could have been a lil more cheese. 

But overall, the dish wasn't too bad, something new and different I guess. The dad gave the thumbs up for the sweet potato hash (which I knew he totally would!) and proclaimed the blueberry brie bake "interesting". Ha. The Sis wasn't a fan of this dish. Then again, I didn't expect her to be. Ha, knowing her tastebuds, she just doesn't seem to accept fusion salty sweet dishes (eg, peanut butter on apple, or sea salt on chocolate chip cookies).

I'd say, no harm trying out new dishes, you never know whether your tastebuds will love (or snub) whatever new stuff you're trying out hey?

Sorry, I just can't help myself. GIFs-making is just so fun.

Blueberry Brie Bake (adapted from Ashley at Cookie Monster Cooking)

5 large eggs
1 cup milk
⅓ cup pure maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla
½ tsp ground cinnamon
6 cups cubed (1-inch pieces) buttered bread (I used sourdough, but you can use any kind you like)
6 to 8 ounces brie, cut into cubes
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen - I used frozen)

Macerated strawberries
2 cups chopped fresh strawberries
1 tbsp granulated sugar
½ tsp vanilla

Butter a baking dish and set aside.
Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl. Add milk, maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon. Whisk until well combined.
Add half of the bread cubes to the prepared baking dish. Top with half of the brie cubes and half of the blueberries. Top with the remaining half of the bread cubes, then the remaining half of the brie and blueberries. Pour the egg mixture over the top, making sure to coat all pieces as evenly as possible.
Cover the dish tightly with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator overnight.
Preheat oven to 180C.
Combine ingredients for macerated strawberries in a bowl and mix to combine. Set aside.
Remove the plastic wrap from the baking dish and then cover the baking dish with foil. Bake for 25 minutes then remove the foil and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, or till golden brown on top. (I baked mine for almost an hour.)
To serve, top each portion with macerated strawberries topping.