Baked French Toast Casserole

If you had to make an individual serving of french toast for every single hungry person sitting around your kitchen or dining room table during breakfast or brunch, it would probably take a while, wouldn't it?? what if you could feed everyone, all at once? Good idea, right? You assemble this casserole the night before, pop it into the fridge and put it into the oven about an hour before you want to eat it the next morning. This casserole uses a type of bread called, "Texas Toast."  That kind of bread is thicker than a regular piece of bread, so it absorbs the liquid ingredients better :)  The next time you are serving brunch or breakfast for a crowd, think about putting this casserole on the "menu!"

Ingredients

1/2 cup margarine, melted
12 slices Texas Toast, cut in half
1 cup light brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk

Melt margarine slowly in a small saucepan or microwave. Pour into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Set aside. In small bowl, put the light brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir until blended with a large spoon and set aside. In medium bowl, put the vanilla extract, eggs and milk.  Stir until well mixed with a  fork.  Set aside. On the bottom of pan, put 12 halves of the bread - three rows down, four rows across.  Sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture evenly on top of the bread slices. Put another 12 halves of the bread on top - again, three rows down, four rows across.  Pour the egg and milk mixture evenly over the bread halves. Sprinkle the other half of the brown sugar mixture evenly on top.  Cover with a  piece of foil and put in the fridge for a minimum of eight hours. When ready to eat, preheat oven to 350 degrees, remove the piece of foil and replace with a new piece of foil and put into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes and then remove the foil and cook an additional 20-25 minutes or until the casserole is starting to brown and is set in the middle. Remove from oven and let cool about 5-10 minutes. Serve with or without maple syrup!  Makes 12 servings.