Overnight Baked French Toast

A while back I had a Mother's Day brunch. It went amazingly well. I live by this guide from smitten kitchen. She is the almighty master of brunch. On my list of things to make was: scones, muffins, cake, frittata, home fries, french toast, fruit salad and bacon. The scones and muffins were in the freezer, the french toast and salad were in the fridge, the cake was made the night before and the ingredients for both the frittata and the home fries were prepped. So come the day of all I had to do was throw everything into the oven and make the home fries and bacon. I was not stressed at all and even had time to read the paper, what up?!

The french toast recipe is brilliant. I probably love it so much because it is like a breakfast style bread pudding. I highly recommend this if you like bread pudding and eating.

Overnight Baked French Toast
Adapted from Epicurious

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature
12 3/4-inch-thick French bread slices
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar 
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 
2 tsp cinnamon + 3 tbsp sugar
1 cup pecans, roughly chopped 
 

Spread butter over bottom of heavy large baking pan with 1-inch-high sides.* Arrange bread slices in pan. Beat eggs, milk, sugar, syrup, vanilla and salt to blend in large bowl. Pour mixture over bread. Turn bread slices to coat. Cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 400°F. Sprinkle the french toast with the cinnamon sugar mixture and sprinkle the pecans on top. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and crisp on top. Serve warm and with maple syrup. Serves 8. 

* I baked mine last year in a large jelly pan and it was great so that each would be crisped up but this year I used two 8" x 8" pans. While it was nice to have it sit on the table, it is so much nicer in the large pan. They turn out that much better. But either way is good.