Nana's Baked French Toast

This is a recipe that I recently got from my mother-in-law... aka "Nana." Mmm, mmm! I'd never had "baked" french toast before, but it only took a bite to get me addicted. I have a feeling I'll be making this many more times!

Ingredients:

1 loaf french bread; cut diagonally in 1 inch slices

8 eggs

2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups half-and-half

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup butter

1 1/3 cups brown sugar

3 tablespoon light corn syrup

pecans - optional

Directions:

1. Butter a 9/13 inch backing dish.  Arrange the slices of bread in the buttom.  In a large bowl,  beat together eggs, milk, cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour over bread slices, cover and refrigerate overnight.

2. The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sprinkle bread and egg mixture with pecans, if desired. (I used sliced almonds.) In a small saucepan combine butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Heat until bubbling. Pour over bread and egg mixture.

3. Bake in preheated oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes.