BETHIE'S BAKED FRENCH TOAST

Steps:

• The night before, thickly slice the bread & lay out on a cooling rack.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Spray a 9x13 pan well. Tear up the dried bread slices into bite sized pieces into the pan. Sprinkle with raisins & coconut.
• 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.
• For the topping:.
• 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. ;).
• 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.
• Enjoy. :).