Pumpkin Stuffed Croissant French Toast

Pumpkin stuffed croissant French toast is a decadent fall breakfast made with buttery croissants, a spiced pumpkin cream cheese filling, and a cinnamon streusel topping. It’s an easy baked French toast recipe that’s perfect for Thanksgiving morning, fall brunch, or holiday entertaining.

This Pumpkin Stuffed Croissant French Toast is the kind of breakfast that fully embraces fall. Buttery croissants are filled with a creamy pumpkin spice cream cheese filling, soaked in a cinnamon maple custard, and baked with a brown sugar cinnamon streusel until golden brown. A maple cream cheese icing drizzled over the top makes it feel somewhere between French toast, pumpkin cheesecake, and your favorite bakery pastry.

I especially love this recipe as a way to use croissants that are a few days old. In fact, slightly dried out croissants work better here than fresh ones because they can absorb the French toast custard without immediately falling apart.

Serve this for a fall weekend breakfast, Thanksgiving morning, or anytime you want a baked French toast recipe that looks impressive but doesn’t require standing over the stove cooking individual slices.

Why This Recipe Works

• Older croissants are perfect for French toast. Slightly dried out croissants readily absorb the egg custard while still maintaining some of their flaky layers and structure as they bake.
• The pumpkin stays in the filling. Instead of adding a large amount of pumpkin puree to the custard, it’s mixed with cream cheese to create a thick pumpkin cheesecake inspired center. This gives you plenty of pumpkin flavor without making the French toast overly wet.
• You get plenty of texture. Soft pumpkin filling and custardy croissants are balanced by crispy, buttery edges and a brown sugar cinnamon streusel topping. The maple cream cheese icing ties everything together without needing to make the entire dish overly sweet.

What Is Croissant French Toast?

Croissant French toast uses buttery croissants in place of traditional sliced bread. Because croissants are made from laminated dough with layers of butter, they create a much richer French toast with crisp edges and a soft, almost bread pudding-like center.

For this recipe, I keep the croissants whole and slice them through the center to create a pocket for the pumpkin cream cheese filling. Then nestle the stuffed croissants in a baking dish, cover with French toast custard, top with cinnamon crumble, and bake.

It’s essentially a cross between stuffed French toast and a French toast casserole, but keeping the croissants intact gives you a prettier presentation and more texture variation.

Ingredients

Pumpkin Croissant Filling

• Croissants
• Cream cheese
• Pumpkin puree
• Light brown sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Pumpkin pie spice
• Ground cinnamon
• Kosher salt

French Toast Custard

• Eggs
• Whole milk
• Heavy cream
• Pure maple syrup
• Vanilla extract
• Ground cinnamon
• Pumpkin pie spice
• Kosher salt

Cinnamon Streusel Topping

• All-purpose flour
• Light brown sugar
• Ground cinnamon
• Kosher salt
• Unsalted butter
• Chopped pecans, optional

How To Make Pumpkin Stuffed Croissant French Toast

1. Make the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Filling

Start with softened cream cheese so the filling becomes smooth rather than lumpy. Beat together the cream cheese, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, vanilla extract, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt until creamy and fully combined. The filling should be thick enough to spread easily without running out of the croissants.

2. Stuff the Croissants

Slice each croissant horizontally through the middle, but don’t cut completely through the opposite side. Think of this more like creating a hinge or pocket.

Divide the pumpkin cream cheese mixture between the croissants and spread it evenly across the inside. Close each croissant and arrange them snugly in a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking dish. Keeping the croissants whole is important here. It allows the tops to become golden and slightly crisp while the bottoms soak up the custard.

3. Prepare the French Toast Custard

Whisk together the eggs, whole milk, heavy cream, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Whisk thoroughly so the egg whites and yolks are completely incorporated before pouring the mixture over the croissants.

4. Soak the Croissants

Slowly pour the custard over and around the stuffed croissants. Spoon a little of the custard over the tops, then gently press the croissants into the liquid. For slightly older croissants, allow them to soak for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Croissants are much more porous than sturdy French toast breads like brioche or challah, and older croissants absorb liquid particularly quickly. You want them softened and partially saturated but still holding their shape. If you’re using very fresh croissants, they may benefit from closer to 15 to 20 minutes.

5. Make the Cinnamon Streusel

Combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Add cold cubed butter and work it into the dry ingredients with your fingertips or a pastry cutter until you have coarse crumbs. Stir in finely chopped pecans if desired.

You want some variation in the size of the crumbs. Smaller pieces melt into the croissants while larger pieces become crisp and crunchy.

6. Bake Until Golden Brown

Sprinkle the cinnamon crumble generously over the soaked croissants. Bake at 350°F for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the custard is set and the tops of the croissants are golden brown.

Because croissants are already baked, their exposed edges can brown relatively quickly. If the tops are getting too dark before the custard has set, loosely cover the baking dish with foil for the remainder of the cooking time.

7. Finish With Maple Cream Cheese Icing

While the pumpkin French toast is baking, whisk softened cream cheese with powdered sugar, maple syrup, and enough milk or heavy cream to create a pourable icing.

Let the baked French toast rest for about 5 to 10 minutes before drizzling the icing over the top. I like adding enough icing to give you a little sweetness in every serving without completely covering the cinnamon crumble.

How Long Should You Soak Croissants For French Toast?

One of the biggest differences between traditional French toast and croissant French toast is how quickly the bread absorbs the custard. Croissants contain lots of open, airy layers. Once they’re a day or two old and have lost some moisture, those layers absorb liquid especially quickly.

For older croissants, 10 to 15 minutes is generally enough soaking time for this recipe.

Don’t judge the croissants based on whether they’ve absorbed every drop of custard. There should still be some custard in the bottom of the baking dish when they go into the oven. As the French toast bakes, that remaining egg mixture sets around and underneath the croissants, creating the soft custardy texture you’re looking for.

Tips For The Best Croissant French Toast

Use slightly older croissants. This is one recipe where fresh isn’t necessarily better. Croissants that have dried out slightly absorb custard beautifully and are less likely to turn to mush.

Don’t completely saturate them. You still want some flaky croissant texture after baking. A shorter soak gives you custardy bottoms with crisp, buttery tops.

Soften the cream cheese first. Cold cream cheese won’t blend smoothly with the pumpkin puree and can leave small lumps throughout the filling.

Use pure pumpkin puree. Pumpkin pie filling contains additional sweeteners and seasonings and isn’t interchangeable with plain canned pumpkin.

Watch the tops as they bake. The thin outer layers of the croissants can brown before the custard is fully cooked. Add foil if needed.

Let it rest before serving. Five to ten minutes allows the custard and pumpkin filling to settle slightly and makes the stuffed croissants easier to serve.

Variations

• Pumpkin Pecan Croissant French Toast: Add chopped toasted pecans to the cinnamon streusel and sprinkle a few additional pecans over the French toast after baking.
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip: Add mini chocolate chips to the pumpkin cream cheese filling for a sweeter version. Dark or semisweet chocolate works particularly well because it balances the sweetness of the filling.
• Salted Caramel Pumpkin French Toast: Skip the maple cream cheese icing and finish the baked croissants with warm salted caramel sauce instead.
• Maple Pecan: Increase the chopped pecans in the crumble and finish the baked French toast with warm maple syrup instead of icing for a slightly less dessert-forward version.

What To Serve With Pumpkin Croissant French Toast

Because this pumpkin stuffed French toast is rich, I like serving it with something savory or fresh to balance the meal.

For a larger fall brunch, pair it with scrambled eggs, bacon, breakfast sausage, fresh berries, or a simple fruit salad. Coffee is practically mandatory here. The slightly bitter flavor of coffee works especially well against the pumpkin cream cheese filling, cinnamon crumble, and maple icing. This would also make a great centerpiece for a Thanksgiving breakfast.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Recipes

Maple Pumpkin Butter

Sweet Potato Baked Oats

Slow Cooker Egg Bites