Overnight French Toast

I was happy to be the guest of my friend, Marianna, at a lovely lake cabin for the last few days. So, forgive the lack of photo here (she has one, so Marianna, if you would like to send it over, I will post it !). I volunteered to do the cooking, and I wanted a breakfast we could eat and head out to the lake to catch some fish!

Overnight French toast is perfect when you don't want to spend all morning cooking breakfast. You will find hundreds of variations of this recipe, I cobbled this together after having made this several times for family brunches, showers and holidays.

We served it with fresh strawberries, but you could you the standard butter and maple syrup as well.

Overnight French Toast
(serves 6-8)
12 pieces Texas toast
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon , divided
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg , divided
6 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt

Butter a 9 by 13 inch pan. place 6 sliced of Texas toast in the pan. Mix together the butter, brown sugar, 1 teaspoon each of vanilla and cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. Spread mixture across the top of the bread, and top with the remaining bread slices. Mix together all of remaining ingredients, and pour over the top of the bread. Press down to make sure all bread is submerged. Cover pan and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, remove the pan from the refrigerator, and preheat oven to 400. Bake covered with foil for 30 minutes, then remove foil, and let bake an additional 10-15 minutes until the top is golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Top with fresh fruit, or maple syrup.