Apple Bourbon French Toast Casserole

Happy New Year!  I'm going to try to start off this new year with more recipes than I ended last year with. I took a much-needed break from my computer, but I still did a lot of cooking and baking!
New years day was so relaxing...got up late, turned on the parade and made this easy and delicious french toast casserole for my family.  It can definitely be made the night before and the recipe below shows both ways of preparing it, but it took very little time to whip up that morning!
The brown sugar sauce is a little thin when the casserole comes out of the oven, but let it sit about 10 minutes or so and it will thicken up a bit.  It was super delicious and I will definitely be making it again!  Enjoy!

Apple Bourbon French Toast Casserole ( recipe by Bake.Eat.Repeat )


INGREDIENTS:

• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. Bourbon
• 3 large apples, cored, peeled and sliced (I used granny smith)
• 1 loaf challah, or french bread, sliced in 2-inch thick slices ( I used challah, got about 6 slices)
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees (if baking immediately).  In a small pan melt butter and sugar together.  Whisk to combine and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.  Add bourbon, whisk and cook about 1 minute.  

Pour butter mixture into a 9 by 13 inch pan. Arrange apple slices on top.  Arrange bread slices on top of apples (**See note below) 

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon.  Pour mixture over bread and slightly push down on bread.  Cover dish and refrigerate overnight.  In the morning, place casserole dish in oven, heat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until apple slices have softened and bread is golden brown. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.  Serve by scooping out a piece of bread and flipping over onto plate.

**Note: if you are preparing the casserole the morning you are serving, dip bread slices into egg mixture before putting them into the pan.  Pour remaining mixture over the top of bread slices, bake at 350 degrees for about 40-45 minutes.  Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.