French Toast Casserole

by Jessica Skankey

5 cups bread cubes
4 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup white sugar, divided
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 TB. butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly butter an 8x8 baking pan.

Line bottom of pan with bread cubes. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, 2 Tb. sugar, salt and vanilla.  Pour egg mixture over bread.  Dot with butter.  Let stand for 10 minutes.

Combine remaining 2 Tb. sugar with 1 tsp. cinnamon and sprinkle over the top.  Bake in preheated oven about 45-60 minutes, until top is golden. 
Serve with syrup.

**We doubled the recipe and refrigerated overnight and baked the next morning for the YSA retreat.

***For the book club weekend (7/2014), I doubled the recipe and used a 9x13 baking pan. I also used the Greenfield's Cinnamon Bread (1 loaf) and decreased the sugar and cinnamon a little. Bake for 1-1/2 hours at 350.