Sweet Strata

Ingredients:

• 1 (1 pound) loaf cinnamon raisin bread, cubed
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened and diced
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
• 8 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted, plus butter for greasing the pan
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
• 1/4 cup maple syrup, plus more for serving

Directions:

Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 1/2 of the bread in the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle the cream cheese as evenly over the bread as possible, and top with the apples. Top with remaining bread. Don't worry if it's not pretty.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the remaining ingredients. Pour over the bread mixture. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing down so that all bread pieces are soaked. Refrigerate 2 hours--overnight.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with warm maple syrup.