PB&J Uncrustables AND French Toast Bake in One!

 This recipe just screams back to school to me! Peanut Butter and Jelly Uncrustables that you can make with your little ones using cookie cutters and instead of having leftover crusts that no one wants you bake it into a delicious Peanut Butter & Jelly French Toast Casserole! NO WASTE! It is a delicious brunch dish you can even serve company! Or hey, make 2 or 3 times the recipe for a large event at a church or school event and have enough brunch for a party! C’mon who wouldn’t want a delicious plate full of this… You can set up a little station with your kids in the kitchen and make a whole loaf of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Then let the kids pick out their favorite cookie cutters (We used and love the 101 Wilton Cookie Cutters) and get to work stamping out their own special uncrustables. Take all the scraps (you can leave them together or tear into pieces and put in a baking pan and add the french toast custard. Now take that whole tray of sandwiches and you can freeze them for future lunches!

Not a fan of Peanut Butter & Jelly? Here are some alternate ideas!

1. Nutella and Jelly (oh man, just typing this makes me hungry)
2. Cookie Butter and Jelly
3. Cookie Butter and Nutella (Ahhhh!!!)
4. Alternate Nut Butters
5. Cream Cheese and Jelly
6. Cream Cheese and Carrot Cake Jam (oh trust me on this one, it is coming soon and is AMAZING)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make all twelve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Spread peanut butter on one side, jelly on the other side.  We use and love Bonne Maman preserves. I had them once at a hotel years ago and now I am hooked!

OH! Amazing grown up version of these preserves that I love? Buy the cherry flavor, use a couple tablespoons of it. Then add in chopped pickled jalapenos, and stir. The longer it stays in the fridge the more amazing it is. Sweet and spicy and SO EASY! Add on top of toast with cream cheese or make grilled cheese sandwiches with it!

Choose your favorite cookie cutters and press firmly down onto the sandwiches. You’ll be left with a bunch of crusts that look like a whole lot of food waste. Especially if you chose especially cute cookie cutters that don’t use up nearly all of the sandwich. The fun thing about this recipe is you don’t have to be great at maximizing sandwich size, you can choose the cute cutters that don’t all fit together in a perfect square shape.

Please note if you are really good at using ALL the bread for your uncrustables, you’ll have less for the casserole so you can kind of see in this picture how much bread was left over.

Tear apart all the crusts into an 8×8 pan. Mix the milk, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and vanilla extract in a bowl. Pour over the crusts. You can cook immediately or put in the refrigerator until the next morning. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Top with crushed peanuts and preserves while hot, or if you let it cool a little, just heat the preserves slightly.   And you have lots of pb&j sandwiches you can freeze for lunches during the week! 

Linked up at: Weekend Potluck, Creative Muster, Too Cute Tuesday,