Finally! A baked french toast that I like!

I used to think adult Sunday School was for lame-o socially inept oddballs.  Sorry, but it's true.  Then, I became one.  (ha ha)  My friend Jan told me about the class she attends and so I showed up.  I have a very cool Sunday School class and I thank Jan for encouraging me to get over my prejudices of adult Sunday School-goers.

The coolest component of my class is, of course, the people.  Kel and I can spontaneously quote "Silence of the Lambs" in unison.  Laurin and I go way back to high school and so far have kept most of those secrets!  My buddy Cannon keeps my brain on its "toes" so to speak and she's one heck of a blueberry picker.  The list goes on and on. Trust me, they are all cool and I consider them all very special friends. 

Another cool thing about my class is that we all like food.  We take turns bringing snacks to class.  Most of us like to cook and I think it's kind of evolving into a friendly contest to see who can wow the crowd or surprise them when we use them as guinea pigs for new recipes!  There are some awesome cooks in the Joy Class:  John and Pattie's shrimp & grits with the jalapeno sausage is a winner.  They work wonders with biscuits and gravy too.  Kristie is the baker extraordinaire.  Cannon whips up a mean grits casserole and recently Trudie brought a fantastic breakfast casserole that she cooked in a crockpot...brilliant!

So yesterday was Britt's turn and she scored about 28 thumbs up.  I've tried a few recipes for baked french toast and have never made one that was real interesting and certainly nothing to write home about.  Britt has solved that problem!  Hers looked beautiful, was delightfully cinnamon-y, and here's the real decadent surprise...it had cream cheese hiding in the middle!  It was appropriate for Sunday School since everyone exclaimed something like "omg" at their first bite.  So, my friend Britt has graciously permitted me to post her recipe. She states that it's not a recipe that she created and she modestly added that she's "just good at following directions."  I think there was a little more to it than that...she added a smidge of Joy-Class-cool-adult-oddball sprinkles or something.

Britt's Baked French Toast

• 1 loaf of good fresh bread (brioche or maybe an egg bread)
• 2 bars cream cheese, cubed
• 12 eggs (yep, that's a whole dozen folks)
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup maple syrup

Tear bread into pieces. Place 1/2 of it in your baking dish (probably a 13"x9" would be best).  Top with cubes of cream cheese then the rest of the bread pieces.  Mix up the eggs, milk and syrup and pour over.  Cover & refrigerate overnight. 

In the morning, sprinkle the casserole with cinnamon then bake at 375 for about 40 minutes.  Serve and be prepared for the "omg's" and other suitable accolades!

Thanks Britt not only for feeding us yesterday but for sharing this awesome recipe with everyone.  This will be in my repertoire from here on out.