Cooking Thursday

 A few weeks ago we had communion at church and it was Bob's turn to supply the juice and bread.  I couldn't remember how many loaves of bread we needed, and figured better to have too much!  Well, we ended up with a whole extra loaf of white bread.  We didn't need a loaf of white bread, so I decided to make a French Toast Bake for supper.  You make this ahead of time, and it sits in the frig for 4  to 12 hours before you bake it.  Then, the extras heat up really well for breakfast the next day.

(You are supposed to sprinkle this with powdered sugar before serving and it would make it look prettier, but I figured we didn't need those extra calories when putting syrup on anyway!)

French Toast Bake

10 cups of white bread that has been cut into 1-inch square pieces

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened

8 large eggs

1 1/2 cups milk 

2/3 cup half and half

1 cup maple syrup, divided

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Powdered sugar, for serving

Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Place the cubed bread into the dish.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add in the milk, half and half, 1/2 cup of the maple syrup and the vanilla and beat until combined. (There may still be some small chunks of cream cheese, but that is normal.) Pour the mixture over the bread cubes, pressing the bread down to make sure it is all soaked with the liquid. Cover and refrigerate 4 to 12 hours

When ready to bake, remove the casserole from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Bake, uncovered, for 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Pour the remaining 1/2 cup of maple syrup over the casserole and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Serve warm.