Bethie's Baked French Toast

Well.... it is my humble opinion that the baked french toast recipes that sit overnight are soggy & mushy. So I tried this. Then added some stuff. And crossed my fingers. The topping idea I hijacked from another recipe online then adjusted to my personal taste. I do hope you enjoy; my family swooned so I came running here to post. ;) I think you could add any dried fruit or even fresh fruit - apples, pears, bananas - cut up into bite sized pieces. I think adding orange zest to the topping might be yummy, too. Go ahead...make it your own!

• Ready In: 1 hr 20 mins
• Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

• 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

Directions

1. The night before, thickly slice the bread & lay out on a cooling rack.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
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. :).