Guest Blogger - At the Lake. French Toast Casserole

My friend Regina from At the Lake is here today with a recipe that I just have to try for a French Toast Casserole. Enjoy!
(and if you want to guest post too, please email me!)
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Hi everyone. I am Regina from At the Lake. I am so excited to be here with you and share one of my favorite recipes. My husband and I have the marvelous good fortune to live in and operate a Bed and Breakfast on an amazing piece of property on the banks of Lake Bridgeport in Texas.

It is really important to me that our breakfast offerings include some things that you don’t get at home every day. So, our menu includes things like Danish Aebleskivers which are a ball shaped pancake, homemade syrups including a Caramel syrup, berry syrups and a peanut butter syrup.
But the real specialty of the house is our baked French Toast Casserole. I first came across this recipe (I think it was on allrecipes.com) about 4 years ago. Every year we have friends and family over for Christmas breakfast. It is an opportunity to share that special day with those who are near and dear to us and who may not have family around that they can spend the day with. I first served this casserole for one of those Christmas breakfasts. It was a huge hit.

We get more requests for this than for anything else on the menu, especially after someone has seen the reviews online from other guests.
So, sit back, relax and enjoy as I share our Baked French Toast Casserole. This makes a 9 x 13 size casserole.

Ingredients:
1 (1 pound) loaf of French Bread, cut into ½ inch cubes
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 ½ cups half and half cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Topping:
¾ cup butter
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
3 Tablespoons light corn syrup
The night before:

1. Place the bread cubes in a 9 x 13 glass baking dish that has been coated with butter or a non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour the egg/milk solution over the bread cubes.

I like to take a fork and push down any pieces of bread that might not be immersed in the liquid. I want each piece to soak in this deliciousness.

Cover the dish with plastic wrap or tin foil (I prefer the plastic wrap) and place in the refrigerator overnight.

2. In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Remove the casserole from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

3. In a small sauce pan, combine the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Heat it until it is bubbling. Pour it over the bread / egg mixture. Again, I like to make sure that the entire top is covered with this caramel mixture. So, pour it on slowly and work at covering all of the bread.

4. Bake it in the preheated oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes. I strongly recommend that you place a baking sheet under it as it tends to overflow as it cooks. The pan will wash up very easily, but, if you wanted, you could cover it with tin foil.

When you remove it from the oven, it will have puffed up, but as it cools, it tends to go down a bit.

Sometimes we only have 2 guests for breakfasts and a 9 x 13 is too much. However, I will say that it reheats amazingly in the microwave. But, for those days that I don’t need that much, I have reduced the recipe so that I can make a single serving or a casserole for 2 (actually, much more than 2 can eat). When I have couples, I usually make it in my heart shaped pan.

This is good enough that you don’t have to put anything on it. However, you can add syrup, butter, or both. Many of our guests like to try it with one of our homemade syrups, such as Buttermilk Caramel Syrup (borrowed from Kara at Kara’s Creations). Another popular syrup is our strawberry or raspberry syrup, depending upon which fruit I have on hand.
I hope you enjoyed the recipe. It is certainly a favorite at our house and quickly becomes a favorite for anyone that tries it.
Let me know how you like it and what your favorite topping is, if you choose to put a topping on it.

Thanks again for visiting with me today. And thank you Tal for having me as a guest on your blog.