Stuffed Baked French Toast~My Mess Up

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For the last month or so, I have been in the kitchen cooking up a storm on Saturday mornings.  While Sundays are our Big Family Dinner Day, I decided to reserve Saturday mornings as our Family Breakfast/Brunch Day.  Last weekend, I made the dish up above. 

While looking for a recipe to complete my weekend menu, I found this one on The Mixing Bowl.Com and decided to try it.

I don't know about y'all, but when I hear the words, "French Toast,"  my mind automatically wonders to either IHOP or Cracker Barrel...and their famous French Toast Breakfast.  Who can resist those wonderful and lucious pieces of Texas Toast or Sour Dough Bread dipped in their cinnamon and egg batter and then smoothered to the max with whipped cream and syrup??  Certainly not I. 

I was hoping this recipe would somehow come close to that scrumptious piece of breakfast heaven.  It didn't :(  Yes, the picture does look appetizing, but I'll tell y'all what I think went wrong......

The original recipe called for 12 eggs.  Yes.  That's right. 12 eggs! 

Of course, I knew this before I made it and since we are trying to eat healthier as a family, I decided to use this:

....instead of these:

It wasn't a smart move on my part.  A healthier move, but not a smart one.  I think using the egg substitue made the bread completely dry...resulting in this:

....a dry casserole of sorts.  The cream cheese didn't even melt :( 

Before I took the picture above, I decided to cut myself a slice and smother it in syrup.....

....with the hopes that it would take away some of the dryness.  It didn't ;(

So....I put my thinking cap on and decided to top my piece with butter, whipped cream, and cinnamon....

This worked, but the cream cheese was still in globs. 

So I just let it be and decided to toss the recipe with the hopes that I will hopefully be successful with another Baked French Toast recipe. 

I give myself kudos though for trying to bake it with healthier ingredients :) 

Rating System:

The Hubs:  Half a thumbs up...saying it was to dry

Libby:  Same as my husband

Our Kids:  Thumbs Up...they seemed to love it, dryness and all

Here is the recipe if anyone is interested:

Stuffed Baked French Toast

(adapted from The Mixing Bowl.com)

Any yummy bread (no sour dough) French, or Italian loaf is good

1 whole loaf sliced kinda thick

12 eggs

1 & 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup whole milk

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese..maybe a bit more

Spray 9x12 cassarole pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Line pan with a layer of bread.

Whisk up all of the eggs with the cup of milk, add cinnamon, and vanilla

Dot the top of the bread layer with cream cheese, add another layer of bread and cream cheese. Continue until all of the bread is used.  Pour the egg mixture on top pushing the bread down. Cover with plastic wrap and store in fridge overnight. It will rise and be nice and puffy in the morning. Bake at 350* for apx 45 min, until set and not jiggly. Serve with a GOOD syrup.