Overnight French Toast

We had house guests here last night, my sister, her husband, and their three children. Breakfast can tend to be a free-for-all, but I put a little more effort into it for this morning starting last night.

An aunt of mine made this once when I was staying over at her house. Overnight French Toast is what it's called. Very easy to assemble the night before, then refrigerate it and pop it in the oven in the morning. It's been a well-received dish wherever I take it--except when I recently made it for our church's Christmas brunch. I can tell you about that fiasco in a bit.

I would provide a picture of it if I could right now. I can only produce an emptied out pan, though, so no picture until the next time I make it.

Without further ado, here is the recipe for Overnight French Toast, which takes about 5 minutes to assemble.

Overnight French Toast

1. Melt 1/2 cup butter. Pour into 9" x 13" pan.

2. Stir in 1 cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Spread over bottom of pan.

3. Place 12 slices bread in a double layer over sugar mixture.

4. Beat 5 eggs and 1 1/2 cups milk together. Pour over bread.

5. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

6. Bake uncovered at 350F for 45 minutes.

7. Serve with powdered sugar or syrup.

Like you really need more sugar. Be prepared to hear yummy sounds.

Here's the story of when I didn't hear yummy sounds from this. I was supposed to make a double batch of this Overnight French Toast for our church Christmas brunch.

I decided to use the turkey roaster for that much, but wouldn't have room in the refrigerator for overnight. Make it in the morning and bake it right away is how I solved that problem.

Long story short: it doesn't work. The egg/milk mixture never got to soak into the bread the way it should, so it was too bready (which is not really a word, I know). The sugar/butter mixture was cemented to the bottom of the pan and had to be chiseled loose.

My friend, Carolyn, also made the same recipe, the way it was supposed to be, for the brunch. It made yummy sounds all on its own.

Live and learn. At least it was memorable.