Planning on a crowd for brunch? This heavenly French toast has you covered. No need to individually cook slice after slice—this deliciousness bakes in the oven. It can be assembled the night before and refrigerated overnight so the bread can absorb the flavorful eggy mixture. The lightly sweet, perfectly creamy goodness is worth every calorie.

12 slices day-old bread
1 package cream cheese (8 ounces)
2 cups blueberries, divided use
2 eggs
2 cups milk
1/3 cup maple syrup or honey
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 tablespoon (1/8 stick) butter

1. Coat a 9-by-13-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. Cut bread into 1-inch cubes and place half of them into pan.

2. Cut cream cheese into 1/2-inch cubes and place on top of cubed bread. Top with 1 cup blueberries and then remaining half of bread cubes.

3. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, and maple syrup or honey. Pour over bread mixture. Cover and chill in fridge 8 hours or overnight. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until center of French toast is set.

5. In a saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch and water. Bring to a boil, then stir constantly for 3 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 cup blueberries.

6. Reduce heat. Simmer 8–10 minutes, or until berries burst. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Serve warm over blueberry French toast.

Serves 10.