Next-Day Baked Cinnamon-Apple French Toast

We made this for Christmas morning this year (2009). My mother found the recipe in her local paper -- The Daily Breeze in Redondo Beach, CA. When I made it, I added in not just the apples, but all the liquid -- as a result the dish was more like bread pudding than french toast ... it was still great, and I'd make it that way again. But if you'd like a drier texture, don't add the apple liquid. I also swapped out the cinnamon and nutmeg for two teaspoons of Baking Spice - Copycat Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus Mix .

• Ready In: 1 hr 30 mins
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons cinnamon, ground
• 1⁄2 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
• 8  slices  white bread (use Texas toast, that REALLY thick white bread)
• 8  eggs
• 1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 1⁄2 cups milk (original recipe calls for whole milk, I used 2%)
• 1  tablespoon vanilla (use the very best! Use Penzey's!)
• 6  apples (used a variety ( Jonagold, McIntosh, your favorites)
• 2  tablespoons unsalted butter (plus more to grease pan)

Directions

1. Peel, core and cut apples into 1/4" thick slices. Heat butter in a saute pan until foamy; add apples and cook until tender (about 10 minutes).
2. Turn off heat and stir in brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
3. Toast bread. Cut slices in half on the diagonal, making triangles.
4. Butter a 13x9 baking dish and arrange bread triangles in 2 rows, overlapping. (There was no photo for this, and I couldn't figure out the best way to do it -- I ended up with an arrangement that looked like two Flying Geese quilt borders, going opposite directions.).
5. Beat eggs in a medium bowl; add sugar, milk and vanilla and beat well. Pour custard mixture over bread. Spoon apples over top. Cover and refrigerate over night.
6. The next morning, heat oven to 350. Uncover baking dish and bake 60 minutes, until custard is set and doesn't shimmy when you tap it.
7. Let dish rest for 10 minutes when you take it out of oven. The original recipe says to serve in squares -- hah! Serve by spoonful; there wasn't any chance that I was going to get this out of the pan in nice, neat squares. Serve with honey butter, maple syrup, or nothing -- it's quite sweet, and the apples create a lovely topping.