Honey Baked French Toast

(about 454g) loaf of French bread, cut into 1 inch slices 1

farm fresh Villa Vida Loca Eggs 8

Sargent Family Dairy 3.25%MF Milk 2 cups

half-and-half cream 1 ½ cups

vanilla extract 2 tsp

ground cinnamon ¼ tsp

butter, melted ¼ cup

Villa Vida Loca Pure Honey 1 ½ cups

brown sugar 2 tbsp

For the Berry Syrup:

mixed frozen berries 3 cups

Archibald’s Great Canadian Maple Dessert Wine (or Archibald’s Spiced Winter Apple Dessert Wine would also work well) 2 cups

cinnamon stick 1

whole star anise 1

whole cloves 6

Villa Vida Loca Pure Honey 2 tbsp

Butter a 9X13 inch baking dish and arrange overlapping pieces of the bread to fit into the pan.
In a large bowl, beat together, eggs, milk, half-and-half, vanilla, and cinnamon. Pour over bread slices, cover and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a small sauce pan, combine the butter, honey and brown sugar and place over high heat. Bring to a boil. Once rapidly bubbling, evenly pour over top of the egg soaked bread slices.
Bake in preheated oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the berry syrup. Combine berries, fruit wine, cinnamon, star anise, cloves and honey in a sauce pot placed over high heat. Once boiling reduce to a gentle simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes, or until slightly reduced and thickened. Remove the whole spices and discard.
Serve baked french toast topped with the warm fruit wine spiced berry syrup and whipped cream if desired.

Notes

Fruit wine spiced berry syrup can also be made the evening beforehand. Simply reheat before serving.