Baked French Toast

So, I am very much a breakfast person.  I love eggs, waffles, pancakes, bacon and french toast... in short I love anything breakfast food related.  So this past weekend I whipped up a batch of some baked french toast with a cherry pecan syrup.  Here's the details:

4 oz of softened cream cheese
1/2 stick of softened butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp of white pepper (yes, I had white pepper)
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup of milk divided
1 long loaf of French or Italian bread sliced up in about 2 inch slices

Prepare a baking pan with non-stick spray.  Use a blender to blend first 8 ingredients with half of the milk.  Once blended transfer to large bowl and mix in remainder of milk.  Soak each slice of bread in the mixture and then place in baking pan. (This all can be done the night before and kept covered in the fridge.) Just before baking pour remaining mixture over bread.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 35-40 minutes until golden brown on top.

The sauce:

1 can of cherry pie filling (can use any kind of fruit pie filling your little heart desires)
1/4 cup of honey
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 cup of applesauce
3/4 cup of chopped pecans
Mix together and warm in sauce pan.

Top the french toast with the desired amounts of sauce and enjoy.

Please note, this pic was taken with my phone and after I had already eaten most of the french toast, my apologies.  Thank you Garret for the recipe. :)