I haven’t posted anything new (aside of the 1 year blogiversary) because I had a lovely vacation and birthday in New Hampshire with family. The hotel where we stayed has full kitchens in the units so we do some cooking while we’re there. I made a taco dinner one night with this delicious slow cooker taco beef, along with cilantro lime rice, zingy corn salsa and yummy cookies.
I chose to make this Baked French Toast one morning for breakfast. There were 6 of us there and we only had one small piece left over.
It was easy to make-I just brought the ingredients and a baking dish with me. It was a fast assembly and easy cooking-perfect for a crowd and not a lot of work.
Baked French Toast
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 16 slices white bread (1lb or 650gram loaf such as Pepperidge Farm)
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups whole milk
- 6 large eggs
- 1/4 tsp table salt
Instructions:
- Pre-heat oven to 450. In a small bowl whisk the cinnamon and sugar together and set aside. On 1 or 2 baking sheets (you’ll have to lay the bread slices flat. If you have 2 baking sheets use them, if not you’ll just use 1 twice) with foil. Spread about 1tsp of butter onto one side of each slice of bread. Place non-buttered side down on the baking sheet until all are buttered. Sprinkle each with 1tsp of the cinnamon sugar. Put the tray(s) into the oven and bake until the bread is golden and the cinnamon sugar is a bit crusty–about 8-11 minutes. Watch the bread carefully. When the bread is finished cooking reduce the oven temp to 375 and set the bread aside to cool a bit. Set the extra cinnamon sugar aside for later.
- Butter a 9×13 baking dish well. Cut 2 slices of bread in half horizontally and set aside. Lay half of the bread in one row and half in another row the length of the dish, overlapping each other. Finish the last piece in each with one of the halves and snuggle the other 2 halves under the bread on the other end of the row. They will look like those rows of cards that fall onto each other (see photo above).
- In a bowl whisk the milk, salt and eggs together and pour evenly over the bread. Let it sit for 15 minutes minimum (or overnight).
- Use the remaining cinnamon sugar from step 1 and sprinkle it over the bread before you put the dish in the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes until slightly puffy and golden. Press gently from one side to the other to make sure that no liquid will press out of the bread.
- Serve immediately with syrup or powdered sugar or anything else you’d like.
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.
Note: the next time I make this I will use less custard to keep the bottom layer more crispy.
Sparks from the Kitchen 