Baked French Toast Casserole

I’m one of those people that has a hard time throwing things away. I had a coupon for a free loaf of French bread from Albertson’s, and I actually remembered to use it. It was the worst French bread I’ve ever had. But I couldn’t throw it away (even though it was free). I put it in the freezer thinking I could make bread pudding with it. Just before Thanksgiving, there was a Paula show that featured "Baked French Toast Casserole," and I’d printed out the recipe since the holidays were coming up and it looked like something that would be perfect for a brunch. Then I remembered I had the bread in the freezer. I know it’s such an obvious thing, but often times my brain is not coordinated enough to put 2 and 2 together and remember what ingredients I have plus what recipes I set aside.

Anyway, it’s one of those "overnight" casseroles where you slice the bread, mix up a custard sauce and pour it over, and let it sit in the refrigerator. Then the next morning, you mix up a praline topping, spread it on top, and bake it. There’s also a raspberry sauce that comes with the recipe, but we thought the french toast would be sweet enough without it. I ended up putting some syrup on mine anyway, for the gooey factor.

This was really good, very simple, and looked nice. I was afraid it would be dry but surprisingly it was moist in the center, crunchy on the edges. I’m going to use the same topping and put it on cinnamon rolls, and see what happens.