French Toast Casserole

Until this year, I'd never heard of this amazing carb-laden ( I know, that descriptor makes you want to eat it even more) breakfast dish, French Toast Casserole. I'm not sure how I existed not knowing about it before. Our kids love French toast, but when you have several children who are all hungry at the same time, want to be held at the same time, and have to have some other crisis of the day at the same time, standing over the stove flipping the 100 pieces of toast they're going to scarf down in half a second really isn't practical. So, that's where this casserole answers the mail!

It contains all of the wonders of your favorite FT recipe, but is half the battle. I found a few recipes online, but changed it up for ease and, well, to how I thought it should be. Check it out...

Here's what you need: 

• Bread torn into cubes (For our family of five I used half a loaf of Texas toast cut white bread). The thickness absorbed all of the liquid well without leaving the bread mushy. You could use a crusty bread, too, like French or Italian. I thin it would be fine to grab some off the clearance rack at your grocer. 
• 7 Eggs
• 1 3/4 cups of milk (I used coconut, but plain white would be fine).
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons of butter (approx.)
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon (this is a guess) 

Here's what you do: 

• Pre-heat your oven to 350 F and grease up a 13x9 inch baking pan.
• Throw all of that ripped up bread in the dish; I had it a couple layers deep. Just make sure the dish is filled.
• In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, 1/2 of the white and 1/2 of the brown sugar, a couple dashes of cinnamon, salt, and vanilla. Pour over bread once combined. 
• Mix remaining sugar and cinnamon and pour over bread/egg mixture. 
• Melt butter and pour over casserole. If it seems like you need more butter, go ahead and melt more. You know, it's only going to make it more delicious. 
• Bake in preheated oven about 45-50min until casserole is golden. 
• Let cool, serve, douse with pancake syrup and powdered sugar - enjoy!