Challah French Toast Bake

My friends I am SO sorry I haven't been blogging all week. But, as you can imagine, I've been up to my neck in AMAZING holiday recipes that I've been preparing for all of you! The first one I'm going to share with you is this super simple and yummy breakfast dish. The morning after Thanksgiving (or any Holiday for that matter) is a difficult one because everyone is pretty sick and tired of cooking and there are still a ton of house guests to prepare breakfast for. This baked French Toast is simply delicious and very, VERY easy to make! You can use this French Toast recipe for the wet mixture (with a few added ingredients) but instead of taking 45 minutes to make everyone's individual piece of toast, you layer the challah (or any other good quality soft bread) all on top of each other in a large baking dish, stick it in the oven for 25-30 minutes, and just relax with your friends and family. I used a raisin Challah to make it extra special, but you certainly don't have to; plain or chocolate chip will do just fine. To get the best consistency, try to use a really deep baking dish so you have at least 3 layers of challah. Anyways, even if you're not the most confident of cooks, this dish will impress your most pickiest of friends and family (someone who doesn't like breakfast foods at all told me it was "Money!") because of how simple and comforting it really is.

What you'll need:
1 loaf raisin challah (sliced if you can get it like that)
8 extra large eggs
2 cups fat free milk (OR non-dairy creamer_
3 tbs. vanilla extract
2 tbs. maple syrup3 tbs. GOOD honey
Zest and juice of 1 orange
Pinch Kosher salt
1 tbs. Smart Balance (or other margarine)
1 large baking dish (Pyrex will do but the deeper the dish the better)

1. Preheat your oven to 350*. Grease your large baking dish with margarine. In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, vanilla, honey, maple syrup, orange juice and zest, and salt.
2. Begin layering your challah. After each layer of challah, pour 1/3 of the egg mixture over the challah. Repeat this until you've reached the top layer of bread and every piece is soaked in the mixture. Let it sit at room temperature and so all of the bread can soak up the liquid for about 30 minutes. 
3. Bake uncovered for about 25-30 minutes. Serve immediately with some maple syrup up on top.

enjoy :)