What our moms want to eat on Mother’s Day
Starting with French toast casserole.
Cooking

May 6, 2025

A serving of French toast casserole has been scooped out of the baking dish and onto a small white plate.
Lidey Heuck’s French toast casserole. Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.

What the moms want to eat on Mother’s Day

By Mia Leimkuhler

I won’t be with my mom on Mother’s Day (this Sunday, May 11; of course you knew that). But I know exactly what I’d make her: this French toast casserole. Is this Lidey Heuck recipe essentially bread pudding by another name, an easier way to prepare French toast for a crowd, a two-handed deep dish of vanilla-scented, custardy generosity? Yes, yes and yes.

Naturally, I’d tailor the dish to her tastes. I’d use brioche, namely the coconut brioche from the Vietnamese bakery down the street (Mom loves coconut). I’d skip the cinnamon in the casserole and topping and instead use a bit of ground ginger, definitely some cardamom (Mom loves cardamom). I should have mentioned, too, that the brioche would have been discounted because it was a day past its sell-by date; this recipe is a great use of any stale-ish bread you have lying around (Mom loves not wasting food).

Serve your French toast casserole with flowers and a handwritten card for full points. And don’t forget to clean up afterward.

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French Toast Casserole

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What else does Mom want this Mother’s Day? I asked some of the moms of New York Times Cooking what they would like prepared for them:

Sausage gravy and biscuits with fruit salad to balance it (me) out. MARGAUX LASKEY

Mochi cakes! ELEANORE PARK

I want to watch my 3-year-old son, Seb, make Andy Baraghani’s excellent sticky miso salmon bowl because I love every step that it entails. (The dish is known as “Sweet Sebby Salmon” in our house; sorry, Andy!) First, Seb does a little dance to the melody of our Zojirushi rice cooker. Then, he mixes together the glaze for the salmon. To serve, I dole out some homemade kimchi while Seb proudly chops his own cucumbers. I melt! ALEXA WEIBEL

I will be requesting/demanding Yossy Arefi’s lemon raspberry cornmeal cake, which keeps well enough to snack on the whole week that follows. ADINA STEIMAN

This furikake snack mix, please! So that we can all eat it together while watching a movie or bingeing a series. GENEVIEVE KO

Cash. And we’ve been doing some form of pancakes almost every year. He’s now old enough to handle these lemon ricotta pancakes. KIM SEVERSON

I’d like my kids to indulge my obsessive compulsive tendencies and do a week’s worth of meal prep. Roast carrots or radishes. Blanch some asparagus; boil a bunch of farro. Wash and dry salad greens and herbs and store them properly. Make a salad dressing. Hard-boil some eggs. Roast chicken thighs (bone-in if they love and respect me). In short, I’d like my 3- and 5-year-old daughters to learn a suite of culinary skills, spend the entire day cooking, and then do all the dishes. Thanks! EMILY FLEISCHAKER

IN THIS NEWSLETTER

Article Image

Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne.

Sticky Miso Salmon Bowl

By Andy Baraghani

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

7,368

35 minutes

Makes 4 servings 

Article Image

Craig Lee for The New York Times

Sausage Gravy

By Sam Sifton

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

1,460

About 25 minutes

Makes 6 to 8 servings

A fluffy, golden biscuit has been split, filled with melted butter and restacked.

Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

All-Purpose Biscuits

By Sam Sifton

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

8,490

1 hour

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Article Image

Nico Schinco for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

Fruit Salad

By Ali Slagle

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarUnfilled Star

423

20 minutes

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Article Image

Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.

Lemon Raspberry Cornmeal Cake

By Yossy Arefi

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarUnfilled Star

565

1 hour, plus cooling

Makes 8 servings

Article Image

Kerri Brewer for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Furikake Snack Mix

By Sue Li

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarUnfilled Star

216

1 hour

Makes 12 servings (about 14 cups)

A side image of a stack of pancakes topped with blueberries, a deep blue syrup running down the sides.

Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Prop Stylist: Megan Hedgpeth.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

By Genevieve Ko

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

5,855

20 minutes

Makes 8 to 10 small pancakes

Seven roasted chicken thighs with hot honey and lime are on an ivory plate with squeezed lime wedges.

Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.

Roasted Chicken Thighs With Hot Honey and Lime

By Vallery Lomas

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

3,437

35 minutes

Makes 4 servings

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