Sleepin In Breakfast Casserole

This weekend I made this yummy breakfast casserole for...

Melissa and Matt. I've known Melissa since 1997 and she married Matt earlier this year. (Photo is from their rehearsal dinner) I was very excited to have the two of them visit us in Austin and stay the night with me. I contemplated making breakfast tacos, but after a night of staying out late I knew I wouldn't feel up to standing in the kitchen preparing breakfast. This easy breakfast casserole was the best go to meal for me.

I made this breakfast casserole this past June for a work event and had a good handfull of people ask for the recipe. I don't think I even had a chance to try my own casserole, I sat it out on a breakfast buffet and it was gone before I knew it.

The day before my guests arrived, I prepared this casserole that Pioneer Woman appropriately refers to as the Sleepin In Omelette.

Generously butter a 9 x 13 baking dish.
Tear six onion rolls and cover bottom of dish.
Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.

Tear one block of cream cheese and place on top of cheddar cheese.
In a bowl crack 10 eggs.

Add 2 cups of milk. I had 1/2 cup of heavy cream leftover from another recipe, so I decided to add that to my 2% milk to make up my 2 cups. A touch of richness!
1/2 teaspoon of dried mustard. Next time I make this, I will add a full teaspoon.

Dash of cayanne pepper. I used chipotle chile pepper because I like the smokey flavor, and I would also add more of this spice next time too.
Mix really well.
Look! Fresh chives from my herb garden!!
Mix the egg and milk mixture well and pour evenly over bread and cheese in casserole.

When you let this sit overnight, the onion rolls will soak up all the egg and milk mixture! Yum!
Next, I finely chopped the garden chives and sprinkled on top of the casserole.
PW calls for a stick and a half of butter. I would probably cut this in half next time.
Here is the breakfast I sat out for my overnight guests. Champagne and OJ for Mimosa's, homemade blueberry muffins (that post to come later this week) and my Sleepin In Breakfast Casserole.
This turned out better than I planned. I woke up around 7 AM and stumbled downstairs half asleep, pre-heated the oven and popped the casserole in a 325 degree oven, covered with foil for 45 minutes. I went back upstairs and crawled into bed again, then after 45 minutes heard the oven beep and I removed the foil from the dish and continued baking (now at 350 degrees) for 10-15 minutes.

This turned out really well. the tops were melted and browned. The eggs had settled into the onion roll and were cooked all the way through.

You can make this up to 24 hours ahead of time like I did. It's a perfect treat for guests and easy on the host too. I think the only thing I could have added to this breakfast would be some fresh cut fruit and a meat dish like a side of bacon.

DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE {Sleeping In Breakfast Casserole}