I’m so excited about the Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style recipe exchange taking place over at Overwhelmed With Joy! The start of fall puts me in the mood for baking and cooking, and I just keep going, right on through Christmas. I can’t wait to see all the recipes… and to try them out!

I’d like to share a recipe that I use every year: Christmas Morning French Toast. I don’t remember where I first came across this recipe, but we enjoy it every Christmas morning. The beauty of it is, you prepare it the day before, stick it in your fridge, and then just bake it on Christmas morning. I usually sneak downstairs early to get the oven pre-heated, then pop in the French Toast so that it bakes while we open presents. Then, just when everyone is starting to realize, “Hey, I’m hungry - we didn’t have breakfast yet,” it’s ready to dig into!

Enjoy! And don’t forget to check out all the other great recipes in the exchange!

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins
1 loaf Italian or French bread, cut into 1-inch slices
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Combine brown sugar, butter and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a 13×9-inch baking dish (if you use one of those disposable aluminum-foil ones, you won’t have much in the way of clean-up to worry about!). Add apples and cranberries; toss to coat well. Spread mixture evenly on bottom of baking dish. Arrange slices of bread on top.

2. Mix eggs, milk, vanilla and remaining 2 teaspoons cinnamon until well blended. Pour mixture over bread, soaking completely. Cover and refrigerate 4 to 24 hours.

3. Bake, covered with aluminum foil, at 375 degrees F for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake 5 more minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Serve warm.