Baked Cinnamon French Toast

. Happy post-Halloween, everyone!  I hope everyone had an absolutely wonderful day, I know we did!  If you recall, my parents were in town for the weekend and that's always a guaranteed good time [maybe not for Robbie though...just kidding!].  We spent the days shopping, going to the pumpkin patch, eating!, watching movies, and enjoying the ever-so-fun Halloween night by dressing up our puppies, handing out too much candy, and cheering on the Kansas City Chiefs to a [down-to-the-wire] victory over the San Diego Chargers.  Let's take a gander at some pictures from the weekend...


Robbie and I at dinner with parents.



Breakfast time!  Enjoying some Baked Cinnamon French Toast :)




Pumpkin patch time!



Christmas picture?!



Carving pumpkins!  I did a pumpkin design and my mom did [one-handed] ghosts.

And you can bet I fully dressed up our little puppies for Halloween, how cute are they?!

Ollie as a glow-in-the-dark Skeleton.



Graham was the cutest Pumpkin on the block!



Tilly as a Witch [toy shaped as a broom included!].

 So you know how I mentioned we ate [a lot]?  Well we did.  And remember how I mentioned in a previous post that I have to stock up on snacks for my dad so he doesn't [as he claims] lose 10 pounds while he's here?  Well I did.  And guess what?  Success!  By the end of the first day my dad claimed he had already gained 5 pounds!  That'll teach him...

But I can't really blame him, I alone baked three things just for the weekend and I would say they all turned out great! So I'll have to pump out some posts about those goodies.  But for today, I highly encourage you to make this outstanding Baked Cinnamon French Toast, taken from two peas & their pod, for the upcoming weekend.  Yes, this recipe made it's debut while my parents were here and let's just say it did not see the end of the weekend.  It's that good.  Even my not-so-bread-loving boyfriend thoroughly enjoyed this breakfast treat.  And it's SO ridiculously simple, about 5 minutes of prep the night before and all you have to do is pop it in the oven the following morning.  Easy peasy!

But why is this dish of bready, cinnamoney yumminess so divine?  Well, you start out with some quality bread [I used the unsurpassable Cinnamon Chip Loaf from Great Harvest Bread Company], pair that with the creaminess we love of bread pudding, and add on a thick layer of sweet, cinnamon-sugar streusel topping.  Point out something wrong with any part of that.  I know...you can't.

More recipes from the weekend to come!

My Notes:

• As I mentioned, I used one round loaf of GHB's Cinnamon Chip bread.  This is by far my favorite bread to use for baking, it's ridiculously soft and those little pockets of cinnamon throughout the loaf take it to the next level.  But you can use any bread loaf you have lying around, such as French Bread.
• Make the casserole the night before as well as the topping, but don't sprinkle on the topping until you're ready to bake.  Refrigerate both components over night and you'll have breakfast in the A.M. in no time!
• You don't have to, but I served the bread pudding with maple syrup, which added the most perfect sweetness to the mix.  The bread pudding itself isn't extremely sweet, so it handles the addition of maple syrup quite well.  Try it.

Adapted from two peas & their pod

Ingredients:

Bread Pudding:

1 loaf Cinnamon Chip Bread

8 large eggs

2 c. milk

1/2 c. heavy whipping cream

3/4 c. sugar

2 tbsp. vanilla extract

Streusel Topping:

1/2 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. cold butter, cut into pieces

Directions:

1.  Spray a 13x9-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Tear or cut the bread loaf into chunks or cubes and evenly place in pan.  Set aside.

2.  In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla extract.

3.  Pour egg mixture evenly over bread.  Gently press down on bread using a utensil so bread cubes soak up the liquid.  Cover with saran wrap and store in refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

4.  In a small bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Add butter and cut into dry mixture using fingertips or pastry blender until mixture has only a few pea-sized chunks.  Cover and store in refrigerator until ready to use.

5.  When ready to bake, heat oven to 350°F.  Remove pan from refrigerator and sprinkle with streusel topping.

6.  Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until bread pudding is set and golden brown.

Yield: 16 servings