Thanks for breakfast

I love breakfast foods. There's something so incredibly comforting about breakfast foods. Although I suppose I love MORE the homemade pancakes, waffles, Dutch babies, croissants, bagels, French Toast, scones, blueberry muffins, biscuits, cinnamon rolls, coffee cake, crepes, hot cereal and Danishes we'd get on weekend mornings growing up, as opposed to the cold cereal we'd get on weekdays. My mom has a very simple French Toast she's done for as long as I can remember. Just white bread plunged in beaten egg, lightly fried in butter and eaten with lemon juice and powdered sugar. Yum.

Well this isn't that recipe...

Mom and I do "Girls' Weekends". If you've been reading for a while, I think you know this. The first of these was while I was in college and reasonable driving distance to Santa Barbara. We fell in love with the Bath Street Inn and even returned there a year or two later. The folks at Bath Street are/were FANTASTIC cooks (it was quite a few years ago - but I must assume they still are!) This is partly why we returned. Santa Barbara's not too shabby either... The inn is an old Victorian with all the charm one expects from a B&B. I love all those little nooks you can find to hide out in and read a book. And best of all - it's about a mile walk to the gorgeous downtown shops and restaurants one imagines when they think of Santa Barbara.

Crumbled butter, sugar and nuts ~~ Drizzled with [real] maple syrup

I like my bread slices a tad wider so I cut on a bit of a diagonal

Of course there are breakfasts. Unbelievable breakfasts! We'd wake up each morning wondering what we were going to get that day and LOVED the anticipation of knowing it'd be mouthwatering. Two recipes we happily trotted away with were for their scones and their Baked French Toast. I love when B&Bs not only prepare scrumptious food, but have recipes printed up and ready to share with their guests when asked. Fabulous of you Bath Street!!

As it sits overnight a lot of that egg will be absorbed into the bread

In the morning - they're like sponges!

I don't very often make the Baked French Toast. Not 'cuz it's not ridiculously heavenly, but because it contains scary amounts of sugar, eggs, butter and carbs. However, this past weekend the gloves came off. I ran 10 miles on Saturday. Now that's no feat compared to my marathon-training buds running 16+. But it's still a friggin' lot. I decided Sunday morning I could consume a bit lot of sugar, eggs, butter and carbs.

Coming out of the oven all bubbly and delicious smelling!

Is that a cinnamon bun or a piece of baked French toast?

Ohhhh... breakfast comfort food. Why is there so often so much *bad stuff* in comfort food? Seriously - is the word "salad" in anyone's definition of comfort food? Not unless you're a huge, weird freak! So needless to say, the Baked French Toast was a hit this weekend. I think it comforted all who partook. And even drove some to seconds. Thank you Bath Street Inn!

It really didn't take long...

Bath Street Inn's Baked French Toast c. 1998

6-8 tablespoons butter (salted/unsalted - not a big diff)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup ground nuts
1/2 cup maple syrup
3/4 loaf of French bread cut into 1-1/2" slices
8 eggs
1 cup milk

*Note: the overall recipe came from Bath Street, but I have reduced the amounts of butter, sugar and maple syrup

Cut the first 3 ingredients together until crumbly. Sprinkle over a 9x13 dish. Drizzle with maple syrup. Place the bread over the syrup. Beat eggs with the milk and pour over. Press the bread down to help absorb the egg. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake covered for 35-50 minutes in a 325° oven until it's bubbling. Serve upside down.