Baked French Toast

OH my Oh my! This is some delicious "French Toast"! It's actually more like a bread pudding that isn't too mushy-pudding-y and I really enjoyed it. (I doubled the recipe and made a big casserole dish full of baked french toast and we ate it for days.) YUM!

My ingredients -- I used milk instead of heavy cream, and vanilla extract instead of freshly scraped vanilla beans -- I am SO lazy! hahahaha

From "For the Love of Cooking"- a great recipe/cooking blog... (originally borrowed from the Pioneer Woman -- another great cooking blog):

Ingredients:

1/2 loaf of French bread, cut into large cubes
4 eggs
1 cup of milk (I used 2%)
1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, seeds removed
Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup of flour
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup of unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions:

Cut the French bread into large chunks then place them evenly into an 8x8 inch glass pan that has been coated in cooking spray. Combine the eggs together with the milk, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla extract, and seeds from the vanilla bean. To remove the vanilla seeds from the pod, slice the pod down the center lenghtwise being careful not to cut all the way through the pod. Using a knife or your fingernail, scrape all of the seeds out from the center of the pod. Whisk the egg mixture until really well combined then pour evenly over the bread cubes. Cover with saran wrap and place into the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
In another bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together. Add the butter and cut into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or your hands until crumbly. Cover with saran wrap and place into the refrigerator until ready to use. When you are ready to bake the French Toast, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the baking pan from the refrigerator and sprinkle the top with the streusel mixture evenly.
Place into the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the French toast is set and golden brown. Let it cool for a few minutes before slicing. Top with butter if desired and drizzle with maple syrup. Enjoy!!

My streusel was not crumbly. I let my butter get a bit warm. Lesson learned - keep that butter cold for good crumble!