French Toast Casserole

Ingredients:

5 cups bread cubes

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 cup white sugar, divided

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon margarine, softened

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Procedures:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly butter an 8x8 inch baking pan.
2. Line bottom of pan with bread cubes. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt and vanilla. pour egg mixture over bread. Dot with margarine; let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over the top. Bake in preheated oven about 45 to 50 minutes, until top is golden.

Variations:

• Melt 1/4 cup butter in bottom of the pan 1st. Add 1/3 cup Bisquick to the egg/milk mixture. Used homemade white bread (no crust) and mix it into the egg mixture. Then, pour the mixture over the melted butter. Baked at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Serve it topped w/ syrup and homemade sweetened whipped cream.
• Deleted the margarine, added 1 1/2 cups more bread, 1/4 c brown sugar, 3 oz cream cheese and 1/4 c pancake syrup. Also, doubled the cinnamon and added about 1 t nutmeg. Mix the cream cheese with the eggs, one at a time. Add in the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT the bread & mix well. Then stir in the bread and pour the mixture into a prepared 9X15 pan and let sit for about 15 minutes. (I used white sandwich bread, lightly toasted. If you're using a hard, dry bread, overnight would be best.) Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Additionally, I've made this with cinnamon raisin bread. Ooohh, YUM!