Overnight Christmas Caramel French Toast

We had a church Christmas party this morning, and I was asked to make a couple of these casseroles for the breakfast meal.  They were simple to assemble, made my house smell heavenly and tasted simply delicious!  I think we are going to make this and an egg casserole for our Christmas morning breakfast this year!  Make it the night before and then just throw it in the oven in the morning - PERFECT for Christmas morning!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 T. light corn syrup
• 1 loaf of French Bread, cut into 12 slices
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 6 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

The night before:

Grease a 9x13 baking dish.  Cut your french bread into 12 equal slices.  In a small saucepan, bring the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and pour into the greased baking dish.  Top with 6 slices of bread.  Combine the sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle half the cinnamon sugar mixture over the bread.  Place remaining 6 slices of bread on top of the first 6 slices.  Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture on top of the bread.  In a large bowl, beat the eggs, milk, and vanilla.  Pour over the bread.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning:

Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before baking.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake, uncovered, for 30 - 35 minutes.  (You may need to bake it longer, depending on how much it "jiggles." 

Top with your favorite syrup and enjoy!