My family does Christmas morning at my parents' house each year. We do a yummy brunch while opening gifts. In previous years I've made this coffee cake, but wanted to do something different this year. Also, being dairy free, I was worried about finding frozen yeast rolls I could eat.

For several years I've eyed Pioneer Woman's cinnamon buns, but they look like too much work (especially when we are hosting Ryan's mom for dinner on Christmas Eve, when I should be preparing it). And there is a lot of butter in that recipe! Any time I see an overnight/wifesaver type of recipe pop up on Pinterest I add it to my Christmas board, so after some browsing of the options I came across this Overnight Caramel French Toast. It does call for a bit of dairy, and the heavy cream was concerning, but I was able to find substitutions for everything!

Dairy Free Overnight French Toast
modified from Six Sisters' Stuff

Topping:

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 7 tablespoons dairy free margarine (I used Earth Balance buttery spread)
• 1/3 cup less a tablespoon soy coffee cream
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup
• Optional: crushed nuts (pecans or walnuts would be good)

French Toast:

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup dairy free milk (or use the coffee cream if you won't have any other use for it)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• dairy free bread slices to fill your pan (I found a nice airy artisan bread at my local grocery store with lots of holes to sop up the batter)

Directions:

1. Coat a non-stick 9x13 baking pan with something to keep this from sticking. Yes, it's that sticky. I did a light coat of olive oil and we had issues. So don't skimp, especially on the sides.
2. In a 2 quart saucepan mix and heat the caramel sauce until smooth. Don't boil it! Transfer into the baking pan.
3. In a bowl that will fit your bread nicely (to sop up the very last bit of egg batter), mix the French Toast ingredients (except the bread). Dip your bread to get it sopping wet and transfer to the baking pan. I placed mine on a 45 degree angle so I could get more bread in, the original recipe placed them flat. I think there is enough caramel sauce you can fit in the extra bread and still have lots, but feel free to be caramel greedy.
4. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.
5. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes at 400 F until bubbly and toast is golden brown.
6. Let stand 3 minutes. Place a serving tray over top of the pan and invert so if flops out and the caramel goodness is now on top. Scrape any caramel still in the pan over top. Serve immediately (as if you could resist).

If I make this again (and I am very tempted to), I will add a teaspoon or two (or five - I'm an addict) of cinnamon to the French Toast batter, as I found the bread a bit lacking in flavour. I'm not a fan of nutmeg or I'd also add that.

Sorry for no photo, it was quickly devoured!