This recipe is at least 60 years old and belongs to my mother. This cake, which my mother made for my wedding and would make a wonderful Christmas dessert, is undoubtedly excellent. Although the recipe is lengthy, it is well worth the effort. If you want, you can use a cup of dried maraschino cherries in place of the candied cherries.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Additional Time: | 8 hrs |
| Total Time: | 9 hrs 20 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 1 9×13-inch casserole |
Ingredients
- 16 slices bread, crusts removed – divided
- 16 slices Canadian bacon
- 16 slices sharp Cheddar cheese
- 6 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- ¼ cup minced onion
- 2 tablespoons diced green bell pepper
- 2 tablespoons diced red bell pepper
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 dash hot sauce
- 3 cups whole milk
- ½ cup butter, melted
- 1 cup crushed corn flakes cereal
Instructions
- Butter a 9×13-inch baking dish. Cut and fit 8 slices of bread to fit over entire bottom of dish. Cover bread with slices of Canadian bacon and sharp Cheddar cheese. Cut and fit remaining 8 slices of bread to completely cover bacon and cheese.
- Whisk eggs with salt and black pepper in a bowl. Whisk dry mustard, onion, diced green and red bell pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce into eggs. Whisk in milk until egg mixture is smoothly combined. Pour egg mixture evenly over the casserole. Cover the dish and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Pour melted butter evenly over the casserole and sprinkle corn flake crumbs over the top.
- Bake in the preheated oven until set and lightly browned, about 1 hour. Let casserole stand for 10 minutes before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 647 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 35 g |
| Cholesterol | 256 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 34 g |
| Saturated Fat | 23 g |
| Sodium | 1516 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 41 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I make this recipe a couple of times per year. I use ham instead of Canadian bacon and Special K instead of Corn flakes. Everyone loves it! Easy to make too.
This is one of my favourite recipe for years. Make it every couple of weeks. Great for breakfast, lunch dinner or snack. Make double the recipe and freeze. Microwave and Ready to eat in a couple of minutes.. I have increased the onions, pepper. And everything listed in the recipe that gives it flavour.
The flavour was really good but man was it mushy! I think there’s way too much milk, it doesn’t really have a chance to firm up. Next time I’ll use probably 2 cups of milk, and see how that goes. I also sautéed some green peppers, onions and mushrooms (so they wouldn’t get watery in the casserole itself) and added that on top of the meat layer, really helped it be a bit lighter.
I didn’t really think this was anything fantastic, if anything it was a bit of a let down. There was always so much hype about the Christmas wife saver recipe so I was excited to try it. The texture was too mushy for our liking and the flavour didn’t really stand out at all, it was just….Meh. Followed the recipe to a “T” but probably won’t make this again..
This is so good. It has become our traditional brunch after all the gifts have been opened. Thanks for sharing!!
My family have been making this casserole for decades. It is a christmas morning tradition. Definitely a time saver! And it’s delicious too! I have tweeked it up by switching bacon for crumbled Sausage, the Cheddar for Swiss and the corn flakes with Parmesean cheese and panko breadcrumbs. Give it a try. You won’t be disappointed!
Easiest breakfast for when family is getting together for a weekend. Everyone LOVES this one
I love this casserole and have been making it for years. I always trim the crusts off the bread. Sometimes I change up the bread — sour dough, multi grain, whatever I have. I’ve used ham slices in place of pea meal bacon. And I’ve used different kinds of cheeses too. All depending on what’s in the fridge the day before.
I always customize this recipe for a smaller portion because there is only 3 of us. I don’t mind left overs but this recipe is way better when freshly cooked. I also use cayenne pepper instead of hot sauce. I use sandwich ham. And hers the kicker I use rice crispys and frosted corn flakes. So silly but the combo is to die for.. Yummm I make this every Christmas morning well night before. And sometimes once I a blue moon. It is hearty and filling so we try not to eat it often but definitely a one to try or make a tradition
This a traditional family Christmas morning breakfast item but I like it so much that I make it year round! I omit the peppers and shred the cheese and sometimes use regular honey ham in place of the back bacon, otherwise follow the recipe exactly and it’ll turn out great! Yes, it does puff up but when it comes out of the oven it relaxes. The corn flakes and butter on top are a MUST, tastes so good! So, yes, as another reviewer mentioned, if you reduce the butter on top, it will be dry (duh!) so just follow the recipe as written. It’s a winner!
I found this looking for ways to use up left-over corn flakes, and I love it! I am not a morning person, & we have a lot of overnight guests, so this is ideal. Being Italian, sometimes I use prosciutto, mozzarella and basil in place of the Canadian bacon and cheddar. If you want tomato with, or instead of, some of the peppers, I suggest sun-dried. Fresh added too much moisture. Works great. Thanks Toby for sharing.
It was too mushy. I tried to bake it longer, but it didn’t help. Maybe I’d try it again with less liquid.
A classic! I make this every year on Christmas Eve.
I used packaged Black Forest ham. You can vary the cheeses.
Thanks for the great recipe. We only made a couple of modifications, first we cubed the bread, and we forgot the ham, which we were going to substitute for the bacon. It was excellent without the meat anyway. We didn’t have cornflakes so we added extra old cheddar cheese to the top
Our Christmas morning tradition……make ahead the previous day…..fabulous!
This was a recipe we always used to make from my childhood. Broke it out again for this Christmas following this recipe and it was just as good as memory served me.
I used 2 cups of milk due to mushy texture comments. I think the reason it’s mushy is the raw onion and red / green pepper also add liquid when cooked. Instead of regular bread I used a loaf of Brioche bread which is richer and more dense. It soaks up the liquid nicely. I also used crumbled turkey sausage as we don’t eat bacon. I love red and green pepper and added a little bit more than the recipe stated. It helps to have the wife saver breakfast come to room temperature by having it sit on the counter for 30 min. after taking it out of the fridge. This will eliminate having to cook it longer than necessary. Excellent dish!
I put the layer of bread on the bottom, but tore up the remaining slices into small pieces and mixed them in with the eggs. This worked great. I used ham, sliced green onions and some chopped smoked red peppers. Used 7 eggs, and made 2x the topping, which was not too much. A friend visiting for Christmas took a very small serving at first, then quickly went back for a larger second serving. My husband loved it. I made fried apples and biscuits to go with it, and it was a wonderful Christmas morning breakfast.
I did some minor modifications like reducing the amount of bread in order to control carbs and it turned out beautifully. This is very close to my late mother’s, from whom I never got her recipe. Thanks and Merry Christmas!
This has been a Christmas morning tradition in our family for years! It’s easy to prepare and so delicious! Everyone always looks forward to eating this for Christmas breakfast.