Week 5: Breakfast - Boozy Baked French Toast

The baking challenge this week was breakfast! Being one of my favorite meals, I was not at a loss for things to make, but I am usually at a loss for time to make anything extravagant in the mornings before work.  I am lucky if I manage to scarf down a bowl of cereal on most days. So, my elegant solution? B for D (breakfast for dinner!). Enter, boozy baked french toast.

The recipe called for Challah bread, but there wasn't any when I went to the store and any kind will do really . I bought a loaf of cranberry walnut bread and dried it out in the oven at a low temp - the best french toast is made with stale bread rather than fresh stuff. Friday morning, I woke up early (shocking, I know) and whipped up the egg custard. I was generous with the Bailey's and the Cointreau and suggest you do the same. :)

I poured the egg mixture over a double layer of bread, sealed it up tight, and put it in the fridge to soak all day. One my way home I grabbed the fixin's for a tasty dinner - bacon, sausage, OJ and the all important....Champagne for mimosas!

While the french toast baked, I threw the sausage and bacon in a skillet. If you have access to Hempler's Bacon, do yourself a favor and buy it.  I love this stuff - and I don't really like bacon (an unpopular opinion, I know). 

Once it was the french toast was all baked it looked like this:

All that was left to do was the cut squares of the deliciousness and plate it all up with some oranges.

A little syrup and we were in heaven.  Actually, the syrup was barely necessary.  The booze flavors made the bread nice and sweet, and if I do say so myself, the cranberry walnut bread was perfect - especially with the Cointreau.