Overnight French Toast

We made this lovely dish on Christmas Eve morning.  We all had to be out of the house early and wouldn't have the kids for breakfast Christmas morning, so a dish I could prep the night before and throw in the oven upon waking was perfect!

This recipe comes from Sweet Tooth Sweet Life and is a must try.  It is kind of like candy for breakfast and unless you are an Elf, probably not something you should do weekly.  But, for the holidays, I say why the heck not!!

What you need:

2 tbsp corn syrup (I used light)
1/2 cup butter (this can be modified down)
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 loaf french bread
8 eggs*
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

*I used 1/2 a cup of egg whites and 3 eggs

In a saucepan, combine the corn syrup, butter and sugar.  Simmer until syrupy.  Pour this mixtur into a 9x13 baking dish lined with parchment and sprayed with baking spray.

In a bowl, beat the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Slice the bread into 20-24 slices and coat with egg mixture.

Lay the bread slices in the pan, squishing into the caramel.  Pour remaining egg mixture over top (use your judgment, I felt I had too much egg mixture left to use the entire thing).  Cover dish and put in fridge overnight.

Next morning, preheat oven to 350.  Bake covered for 40 minutes and uncovered for another 10.  Serve and enjoy!  I served with chicken sausage as I thought we should have some sort of nutritional value in the morning.

Store leftovers in a tupperware as the caramel will stick to the parchment upon hardening.  I found this is great cold out of the fridge too as a leftover sweet treat.  :)

Hope everybody had a terrific Christmas and is looking forward to a healthy and happy 2011!