Creme Brulee French Toast

Christmas Eve this year turned out very snowy for the few of us down in Southern Utah, Matt and I and my parents.  The weather ended up being too bad to travel up north to visit my sisters and their families for Christmas Eve, so we made the best of it (which ended up being an awesome time with my parents).  We made a special breakfast Christmas morning, including this amazingly rich and delicious Crème Brulee French Toast… and double sausage, which Matt always got on Christmas morning.  A Merry Christmas to both of us.  I think I might make this a Christmas morning tradition, but you should not wait until next Christmas to try it!

Crème Brulee French Toast

From Sixsistersstuff.com

1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp corn syrup
1 loaf Texas Toast bread or other thick sliced bread (I just bought French bread and cut into thick slices)
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of cinnamon

In a small saucepan melt butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup over medium heat until smooth, stirring occasionally.  Pour mixture onto large, greased jelly roll pan (18x13x1").  Spread around to cover surface. Place 12 slices of bread in a single layer to cover pan.  Mix together eggs, cream, salt, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Spoon mixture over each piece of bread.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.  Remove from pan and serve.  If not serving immediately, turn each slice of bread over (this will prevent bread from sticking to the bottom of the pan).  You should definitely do as we did, and eat this with our Buttermilk Syrup that is insanely good.  

It's hard to believe, but that bread just soaks all of the mixture right up by morning.  The butter/sugar mixture creates the creme brulee effect on the bottom of the french toast, caramelizing it into sweet, rich goodness.