I made this recipe to take to a friends house for a party, and now this is the only breakfast that my friends and family talk about. It is exceptionally good, but also very sticky sweet, so it would be good to cut it with some salty bacon or sausage.
Ingredients:
- Unsalted Butter | 1/2 cup
- Brown Sugar | 1 cup packed
- French Bread | 1 loaf, 2-day-old cut into 1 - 1 1/2” slices
- Eggs | 5
- Half-and-Half | 1 1/2 cups
- 2 tablespoons Maple Syrup | 2 tablespoons
- Vanilla Extract | 1 1/2 teaspoons
- Orange Extract | 1/2 teaspoon
- Salt | 1/4 teaspoon
- Cinnamon to taste
Directions:
- Cut french bread into 1 to 1 1/2" slices and spread out evenly on a surface. Allow them to dry as long as you can as the more "stale" it is, the better it will turn into custard.
- Just before beginning getting this up, grease a baking sheet. I use regular butter, but you can use cooking spray, crisco or whatever alternative you prefer.
- In a small sauce pan, melt butter and brown sugar, stirring occasionally until smooth. You need to be very careful with this step as if you cook it too much, it will turn brittle and hard, but if you don't cook it enough, it will just stay gooey and be grainy. The moment it begins to look smooth, pull it off the heat. Pour melted mixture into the baking sheet and spread out evenly. Make sure to get it spready completely over the pan as you want to cover as much of the bread as possible.
- Arrange bread slices in a single layer to cover the pan (as many as will fit). Make them tight, you can even deform them a bit to get them all on.
- Add eggs to a medium bowl and beat for 1 minute, then whisk in half and half, maple syrup, vanilla, orange extract and salt. Use a large spoon to spread the mixture evenly over each piece of bread then lightly sprinkle bread with cinnamon (I like lots!). Cover, and refrigerate at least 8 hours, or overnight.
- Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until lightly golden then flip all the slices of bread over and broil until the tops are golden.
- Top with syrup, and your favorite toppings.
This will quickly become a fan favorite, and the leftovers are darn near just as good as fresh. Bon appetite!
