Pumpkin French Toast Bake--Pinterest Recipe

I pin lots of recipes on Pinterest...I mean with photos like this, who wouldn't?

But it is rare that I actually make the recipes I pin--Mostly because I don't cook very well.  Baking is another thing though :)  Before I had kids, I baked all the time for my extended family and for my now husband (he still complains every once in awhile that I don't make him white chocolate chip cookies anymore).  

So I finally decided to take a stab at this recipe because I LOVE pumpkin bread and french toast, so why not combine them?  I know technically it isn't Fall yet, but close enough...Pumpkin everything is everywhere!

Sometimes when you click the pictures on Pinterest, it turns out to be just a picture, but luckily this one was linked to the actual recipe from The Minimalist Baker.  I used almond milk and I didn't have any pumpkin butter so I used pumpkin puree doubled the vanilla, pumpkin spice, and brown sugar, plus I added a few dashes of ginger and cloves.

(letting it set overnight)

I just used regular white bread.  If I like raisins in my food, I would have loved to try cinnamon raisin bread.  

The result (I didn't use any nuts because I don't care for nuts in my food either--ha ha ha):

ok...it looks wet which the recipe says to bake until no longer wet...but this picture was taken after transporting it to work under foil--so it is just the condensation--I promise you.  Why did I take it to work?  My husband doesn't like French Toast and my son doesn't like Pumpkin...I know, right?

This was at the end of the day.  It wasn't as sweet as I had hoped it would be, but everyone told me it was good (I hoped the 5-6 of 10 people in my office that tasted it really liked it and weren't just being nice :D )

Would I make it again?  Probably not, because my family wouldn't enjoy it.  But it would be cool to try with either pumpkin butter or more sugar in the bake so syrup wouldn't have to be added.

I can't wait to try out more pumpkin recipes this fall.  With my daughter off at college and my husband taking some classes twice a week (plus off watching football on Sundays), I have some extra time to be creative.