Turn your oven to low broil, place ½ cup sliced almonds on a baking sheet and toast for 3-4 minutes or until golden. Set aside.

Generously grease a 9x13 baking dish with butter.

In a bowl whisk the eggs, milk, maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, salt and lemon zest. Set aside.

Spread half the bread cubes into the prepared baking pan and top with ¾ cup blueberries. Spread the rest of the bread cubes in the pan and top with ½ cup blueberries.

Pour the milk and egg mixture evenly over the bread cubes to cover everything evenly. Use a spatula to gently press down on the bread to make sure the milk mixture gets in all the crevices. Let sit for 1 hour before baking or cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and store overnight in the fridge.

If the pan has been in the fridge overnight, remove from the fridge one hour before baking.

Preheat oven to 350F. Bake uncovered until golden on top or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 45-55 minutes. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before topping with the toasted almonds and then cutting and serving.

While the french toast bakes, make the maple cream cheese topping if using. Mix together 1 cup softened cream cheese with 2 tablespoon maple syrup (you can use a hand blender or food processor to blend this if desired). Set aside.

Serve french toast with maple syrup, cream cheese topping, or vanilla Greek yogurt and/or fresh blueberries.