Pioneer Woman's Baked French Toast

My family loves breakfast. My daughter's favorite food is anything breakfast, and given the fact getting her to eat dinner is always a fight, I decided to make some breakfast for dinner the other night. I made Pioneer Woman's Baked French Toast. One of the main reasons I love this recipe, is that you can assemble it the night or day before and then just pop it in the oven when you get home.  The other reason I love this recipe is all of the ingredients are things you have at home. The only thing I usually don't have on hand is heavy whipping cream and I have even substituted milk for the cream and it turned out just as delicious.
This recipe is also great for potlucks and brunches. Super easy, Super delicious, and Super crowd pleasing.

 You start off put chopping (into 1/2 to 1 inch cubes) up a loaf of sourdough or Italian bread. I usually buy whatever is the cheapest at the grocery store- ya know they have those deals where you can get like a loaf for a $1. Throw the cubes into a greased 9 x 13 pan.
Next up is the very difficult task of whisking eggs, milk, cream, sugars and vanilla. Don't ask me why but I hate whisking lots of eggs. It makes me crazy and I feel like they never completely get whisked together, oh well such is life. 

When that mixture is all whisked together, you dump it (evenly) on top of the bread cubes. I usually try and make sure every cube gets covered. This would be the point that you can wrap it up and put it in the fridge to bake later. Or you can bake it right away, your choice- either way DELICIOUS!! If you do bake it right away, do not forget the most important part which is the butter/brown sugar/Cinnamon crumble mixture that makes this whole thing...

 This is the one and only time I really use the pastry cutter. Quite frankly the only reason I bought a pastry cutter was for this recipe. By all means you can use a fork and chop-a-chop-a but ya know I try and be cool.  Sprinkle that mixture ontop of your bread cubes, and bake that baby off!! Finished product is an awesome crunchy, creamy breakfast treat. I usually make up some bacon to go with it, and that's it! Pioneer Woman suggests warming up syrup and fresh blueberries for a topping, but "Ain't nobody got time for that" in my house!!! ENJOY!!

Baked French Toast

• FRENCH TOAST
• Butter, For Greasing
• 1 loaf Crusty Sourdough Or French Bread
• 8 whole Eggs
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract 
• Topping
• 1/2 cup Flour
• 1/2 cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• Freshly Grated Nutmeg (optional)
• 1 stick Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces

Instructions

For the French toast: Grease the baking pan with butter. Tear the bread into chunks, or cut into cubes, and evenly distribute in the pan. Crack the eggs in a big bowl. Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Pour evenly over the bread. Cover the pan tightly and store in the fridge until needed (overnight preferably). Or you can make it and bake it right away---delicious no matter what!
For the topping: Mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and some nutmeg in a separate bowl. Stir together using a fork. Add the butter and with a pastry cutter, and mix it all together until the mixture resembles fine pebbles. Store in a plastic bag in the fridge.
When you're ready to bake the casserole, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the casserole from the fridge and sprinkle the topping over the top. Bake for 45 minutes for a softer, more bread pudding texture or for 1 hour-plus or more for a firmer, crisper texture.