Birthday Breakfast

My sweet, rambunctious, delightful daughter celebrated her 2nd birthday this past Sunday. Her grandparents came in town for the festivities and we had a jammed packed weekend planned.  Saturday was spent at our neighboring city Fort Collins for some good old fashion tailgating with friends and family followed by a high spirited college football game.  I wanted to have the birthday girls breakfast planned ahead of time since I knew we weren't going to be around much beforehand.  This baked french toast fit the bill perfectly.  I made it early Saturday morning set it in the fridge to soak up all that wonderful custard and baked it off the next day.  I made a quick strawberry "syrup" that was nice and tart, a perfect balance to the sweet french toast.  On the side a simple fruit salad with a squeeze of lime and a drizzle of honey. The result was mm mmm tasty, fit for a birthday princess.  

 This recipe is adapted from the Pioneer Woman Cooks website, to access her recipe go here

Ingredients

• 1 loaf Crusty Sourdough Or French Bread
• 8 whole Eggs
• 2 1/2 cups half and half
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract

• Topping

• 1/2 cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 stick Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces   

Grease a 9x13" pan with butter.  Cut or tear bread into 1" cubes and add to pan. In a separate bowl mix together eggs, half and half, sugars, and vanilla.  Add egg mixture to bread in pan, cover and chill in fridge overnight.  For the topping mix the sugar, cinnamon, salt and butter together with a fork or your fingers until the mixture resembles fine pebbles.

When your ready to bake, heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Uncover the pan, add the topping and bake for 35-45 minutes.  Or until the top is browned and crunchy and the bottom is still moist.

Serve with warmed syrup.  

Strawberry "jam" is easy to make.  Just add 1/2 cup of strawberry jam into a sauce pan, 1 T. of lime or lemon juice and a few tablespoons of water, (if you want it a little sweeter add 1T. of sugar).  Heat up and simmer for about 5 minutes. Serve warm with french toast.

Ta da!  The finished product, with a fruit salad side.  A decadent and oh so delicious breakfast feast.