Baked French Toast with Blueberries....perfect weekend food!

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day...and there is nothing I love more than pancakes, french toast, syrup, bacon...perfection. My favorite thing to cook is some kind of new breakfast casserole or breakfast cake, and this baked french toast falls into both of those categories. This is a great dish to serve for brunch...Mother's Day, Easter, or just Sunday morning! My cousin Steph first introduced me to this dish...she called me with the recipe telling me how awesome it was, and how I had to try it. It took me a whole 24 hours, and the results were amazing. It is now a favorite in my family, and it is often requested at family brunches. Something about the crusty bread layers, mixed with cream cheesiness, warm blueberries, and syrup. It's awesome. Try it this weekend, you will not be disappointed!

You will need:

2 loaves crusty Italian bread cut into 1" cubes
1 1/2 packages of cream cheese
Sprinkle of sugar
Fresh or frozen blueberries
12 eggs
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup maple syrup

Blueberry sauce:

1 cup white sugar
2 Tbs cornstarch
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 Tbs butter

Sprinkle half of the bread cubes in a casserole dish. Mix the cream cheese with a little sugar, and spread across the bread cubes. Sprinkle blueberries over the cream cheese (1+ cups). Top with remaining bread cubes. In a large mixing bowl, mix eggs, milk, vanilla and syrup. Pour over bread mixture. Let sit overnight in the fridge. In the morning, take the pan out of the fridge 30 minutes prior to making. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, remove foil, and bake 30 more minutes, until center is firm, and the edges are brown. While baking, mix 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan, with the cornstarch. Bring to boil, stirring for 3-4 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of blueberries. Reduce heat, simmer for ten minutes, until blueberries burst or mush. Add 1 Tbs butter. Pour over french toast, or make extra and serve on the side, get jiggy with it. (It really says that at the bottom of my recipe card...) Enjoy!