Christmas Morning Baked French Toast

Christmas morning has always been a joy for me.  When our kids were little, we were slowly woken up by them on Christmas morning, to see what Santa brought.   It was so much fun to see how happy they were, and the expressions on their faces.  They would come into our room and whisper " mom, dad, can we go downstairs and see what Santa brought?" They would never just go downstairs, they would always wait for us to get our sleepy heads out of bed.  First up on the agenda that morning, was everybody got a glass of orange juice to wake us all up.  Then after the gift opening, it was my turn in the kitchen.  It was the BIG Christmas breakfast on Christmas morning.

  I am sad to say that those days of little voices whispering in our ears are over, the kids are all grown, and now I am the one whispering in the morning, so I don't wake them up.  Even though they are adults now, it's still all about "the kids" at Christmas, and when they finally do get out of bed they are looking for the BIG Christmas breakfast that awaits them.  This year I made Baked French Toast with Pure Maple Syrup (the recipe is below), Home Fries, and Brown Sugar Sausage. This recipe is so easy because you prepare it the night before and then bake it in the morning. The recipe is below.

Doesn't this look yummy? It was!

Baked French Toast

Ingredients

cooking spray

1 loaf of Challah Bread, sliced in 1 inch thick slices

8 large eggs

2 cups half and half

1 cup of skim milk

3 tablespoons of sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

Slice the bread into about 20 slices.  Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with the cooking spray. Arrange slices in rows, overlapping them.  In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half and half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Whisk it together until all of it is blended but not too foamy.  Pour the mixture evenly over the bread and spoon some in between all the slices, making sure all the bread is covered.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees, and bake for 40-50 minutes.  The last 15 minutes of baking take the foil off and let it brown on top.  Serve with Maple Syrup.  Makes 6 - 8 servings.