Bethie'S Baked French Toast

• 1 loaf challah
• vegetable cooking spray
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 10 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 -2 tablespoon sugar (or vanilla sugar!)
• 1 pinch salt
• TOPPING
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• OTHER
• maple syrup

1. The night before, thickly slice the bread & lay out on a cooling rack.
2. Preheat oven to 350u0b0F.
3. Spray a 9x13 pan well. Tear up the dried bread slices into bite sized pieces into the pan. Sprinkle with raisins & coconut.
4. In an 8c measuring bowl, whisk eggs. Add milk & cream (you can use whatever combination of dairy you want. I have skim milk in the fridge so I added some cream. If I had whole milk, I would have used that & skipped the cream). Add sugar, vanilla, cinnamon & whisk thoroughly. Carefully pour over the bread. With a spatula or your (clean) hands, carefully push down to make sure it's all wet. Let sit 15 minutes or so.
5. For the topping:
6. In a small bowl, combine butter, brown sugar & cinnamon. I mushied it all up thoroughly with my hands. Spread on top of the french toast mixture. It doesn't spread very easily; I used my hands. Sprinkle almonds on top. I sprinkled almonds on only 1/2 because dd doesn't care for nuts. ;).
7. You may want to consider putting a cookie sheet under the baking dish in case there are any spills. Bake in preheated oven 50 minutes or until toasty on top & set. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving. Pour just a little warmed pure maple syrup on top.
8. Enjoy. :).

challah, vegetable cooking spray, raisins, shredded coconut, eggs, milk, cream, cinnamon, vanilla, sugar, salt, topping, unsalted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, almonds, maple syrup

Taken from www.food.com/recipe/bethies-baked-french-toast-463877 (may not work)