Bethie's Baked French Toast

Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1 loaf challah
• vegetable cooking spray
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 10 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 -2 tablespoon sugar (or vanilla sugar!)
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• maple syrup

Recipe

• 1 the night before, thickly slice the bread & lay out on a cooling rack.
• 2 preheat oven to 350°f.
• 3 spray a 9x13 pan well. tear up the dried bread slices into bite sized pieces into the pan. sprinkle with raisins & coconut.
• 4 in an 8c measuring bowl, whisk eggs. add milk & cream (you can use whatever combination of dairy you want. i have skim milk in the fridge so i added some cream. if i had whole milk, i would have used that & skipped the cream). add sugar, vanilla, cinnamon & whisk thoroughly. carefully pour over the bread. with a spatula or your (clean) hands, carefully push down to make sure it's all wet. let sit 15 minutes or so.
• 5 for the topping:.
• 6 in a small bowl, combine butter, brown sugar & cinnamon. i mushied it all up thoroughly with my hands. spread on top of the french toast mixture. it doesn't spread very easily; i used my hands. sprinkle almonds on top. i sprinkled almonds on only 1/2 because dd doesn't care for nuts. ;).
• 7 you may want to consider putting a cookie sheet under the baking dish in case there are any spills. bake in preheated oven 50 minutes or until toasty on top & set. let sit for 10 minutes before serving. pour just a little warmed pure maple syrup on top.
• 8 enjoy. :).