French Toast Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown sugar

• ½ cup butter

• 1 (8 ounce) loaf crusty French bread, cut into bite-size pieces, stale bread is fine

• 2 cups milk

• 5 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 pinch ground cinnamon, or to taste

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar, or as needed

Directions

1. Grease a 9x12-inch baking dish.

2. Stir brown sugar and butter together in a saucepan over medium-low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves into butter, 2 to 4 minutes. Pour into prepared baking dish.

3. Beat milk, eggs, and vanilla extract together in a bowl; pour milk mixture over bread into the baking dish and mixas necessary to ensure all bread is absorbing liquid. (Be gentle so bread doesn’t lose shape. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top.

4. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate, 8 hours to overnight.

5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (230 degrees C). Remove and discard plastic wrap from baking dish and sprinkle remaining brown sugar over the top of the bread mixture.

6. Bake in the preheated oven until browned and bubbling, about 50 minutes.

Notes

This is basically bread pudding, and it’s freaking delicious!