Make-Ahead Meal: Overnight French Toast

I just love a Monday.  Well, let me be more specific.  I just love a Monday when I already made dinner ahead the night before.  Make-ahead meals make me happy in much the same way that crockpot meals make me happy.  I can make them at a time that is more convenient for me, but my family sits down to eat them at dinner time.  I normally prepare crockpot meals after lunch or in the early afternoon, or I may prepare them in the morning, but keep them ready in the fridge to begin cooking later in the day.  Make-ahead meals I usually do the night before (and yes, that might mean making two dinners in one day, but the bonus comes when you don't have to do anything but put the food in the oven the following evening.  In this case, my husband took me out for dinner last night and the babysitter did dinner for my kids, so I only had to make the one meal.)

This meal is another idea I found on Pinterest (here's my pin).  You can view the original recipe here at Rach's Blog if you are interested.  I made only a few minor adjustments in my version.  The original recipe does call for using Texas toast, but I simply used cinnamon swirl bread (2 layers of 6 pieces each=12 pieces of bread total).

Overnight French Toast

Ingredients:
~1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)
~2 cups brown sugar (additional brown sugar to sprinkle between layers)
~12 pieces cinnamon swirl bread
~4 eggs
~1 1/2 cups milk
~2 teaspoons vanilla
~cinnamon
~turbinado sugar

Directions:

Melt butter in microwave and add brown sugar.  Stir until mixed and spread into bottom of 9 x 13 pan.  Beat eggs, milk, and vanilla.  Lay single layer of cinnamon bread in pan.

Spoon 1/2 of egg mixture on bread layer.  Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon before next layer of bread.

Add second layer of cinnamon bread.  Spoon on rest of egg mixture.

I put a pat of butter onto each slice of bread and then sprinkled all with turbinado sugar and more cinnamon.

Cover and chill in fridge overnight.  Uncover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  We do not eat this with any syrup as it is certainly sweet enough on its own.  I did place each serving on the plate upside down so the brown sugar/butter mixture is right on top.  Yum is really the only word for it.

~nikki