Baked Caramel French Toast

I really like french toast.  If we're out for breakfast it's usually what I order.  But I can't really make it at home.  The bread is always too soggy.  I've tried many different things through the years and haven't really found a perfect recipe.  I still haven't, even after today. Ha.  But when I came to this recipe it did look good in their picture (that is part of the conspiracy of cookbooks that we will explore another day).  My mom got me a Pillsbury Annual Recipes cookbook this last Christmas.  I have made a bunch of things out of it and most of them have been very good.  This one wasn't terrible, it just wasn't restaurant french toast either.  It did nicely fit my schedule, since I had to be out late this afternoon.  I made it this morning, had it in the fridge all day, and then it just got popped in the oven when we got home.  Defense against fast food because if it's already made I am far less likely to stop and get something on the way home :)

Baked Caramel French Toast
Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp butter
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp light corn syrup
French toast:
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
8 (3/4" thick) diagonal-cut slices French bread

Spray 9x13 glass baking dish with cooking spray.  In 2-quart saucepan, combine topping ingredients over medium heat.  Stir constantly until smooth.  Do not boil (oops, I walked away and let mine boil by accident.  I think they say this though so it doesn't start cooking the eggs on the bread yet...so I just let the topping cool off some before I proceeded). Spread topping in baking dish.

In a shallow bowl, beat eggs with fork, then beat in milk, vanilla, and salt.  Dip bread slices into egg mixture; arrange over topping in dish.  Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

When ready to bake, remove cover and place casserole dish in oven.  Turn heat to 400 (if you preheat the oven and then put a glass dish in there, sometimes that's bad...).  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and toast is golden brown.  Remove from oven; let stand 3 minutes.

Invert large heat-proof serving platter over casserole dish; turn platter and baking dish over.  Remove baking dish, scraping any extra caramel topping onto toast (that is SO not what I did...can you imagine the mess?? And the potential for injury?  I understand that they want the pretty caramel to be on top, so I just took each piece out individually and then flipped them onto our plates, caramel side up.  Way less risky).  Serve immediately.

Results:
Soggy bread, sticky coating.  The kids all loved this (predictably; it was like candy on a plate).  We had it with fruit and sausage.  I couldn't even eat all of one piece of this because of the sweetness.  Sam had 3 pieces. And now his blood sugar is 432.  Ha. So, an easy meal, and the kids loved it.  But this is not a good enough performance to make it into the keeper book.