Caramel Apple French Toast Bake
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Layers of soft, custardy bread and sweet cinnamon spiced apples are baked together, then topped with a buttery crumble and drizzled with rich caramel sauce. It’s the ultimate fall breakfast or brunch treat!
Breakfast is not my best meal of the day. Usually it consists of a piece of toast, an English muffin, or a toaster strudel. Some days I don’t even eat anything but I always have a cup of coffee first thing in the morning.
Occasionally I’ll make a special breakfast or a weekend or a holiday but that doesn’t happen very often. When it does I tend to make coffee cake, cinnamon rolls, or a quiche.
I’m not big on French Toast because I find it to be a little too soggy for my taste. However, in the last few years I’ve realized that I do enjoy a good French toast bake because it’s a firmer version with similar flavors.
What is French Toast?
French toast is a classic breakfast dish made by soaking slices of bread in a mixture of beaten eggs, milk, and often sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Then frying the bread until golden brown on both sides. It’s usually served with syrup, a fruit compote, or powdered sugar.
So I’ve been trying my hand at making French Toast Bakes on the weekends. The easiest and best one I’ve made is Overnight French Toast Casserole because you can top it with fruit, syrups, or powdered sugar. When I want a fruit based breakfast Overnight Raspberry French Toast is always a hit. For something a little fancier this Caramel Walnut Baked French Toast is best.
I had a ton of apples sitting in the fruit bowl so I thought an apple French toast would be the perfect fall breakfast. When I went looking for recipes I decided that Caramel Apple French Toast sounded even better.
The great thing about this recipe is that you can make it and bake it right away or you can make it and refrigerate it overnight until you are ready to cook it. I like that I have the often, especially if we have company.
The base of the French toast is bread, apples, eggs, and plenty of spices. I used cinnamon, allspice, and baking spice but you can basically use any combination of your favorite spices.
Ingredients:
- white bread (you can use any type)
- apples
- eggs
- whole milk (or you can use plant based milk)
- granulated sugar
- vanilla extract
- cinnamon
- allspice
- salt
To make the French toast first chop the bread into 1 inch cubes. Spray an 8 x 8 baking dish with cooking spray and place the bread in the pan. Add the chopped apples and toss to combined. In a medium bowl whisk the eggs until combined. Add in the milk, sugar, vanilla, spices, and salt and mix well.
Pour the mixture over top of the French toast. Cover and refrigerate until ready to bake or preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle the streusel over top of the French toast and return to the oven to bake for 20 more minutes. Remove from oven and drizzle with caramel sauce.
The smell of the French toast baking was incredible! It smelled of apples and spices and bread. I couldn’t wait to get it out of the oven.
Once the streusel went on top of the French toast it looked even better. I added oats to mine because I like the chew oats give to to a streusel.
Do I have to put the streusel on top?
No! While it is totally incredible and puts this French toast bake over the top, it isn’t necessary. It’s really good without it on top too.
This Caramel Apple French Toast Bake is a real show stopper. It cuts easily so it’s easy to serve in pieces. It’s sweet and spiced and has a lot of apple and caramel flavor. It’s custardy but not mushy at all.
Can I use different fruit in this French toast?
Instead of apples you can definitely use pears and keep the same spices and the caramel. You could add blueberries instead of apples but then I would add cinnamon, cardamom, and allspice. I also would not pour the caramel sauce over top.
Overall this is a fairly easy breakfast to make and it’s great to enjoy on the weekends or fancy enough to serve at brunch. It would even be great as a holiday breakfast!
If you’ve tried my Caramel Apple French Toast Bake or any other recipe on Hezzi-D’s Recipe Box please take a minute to rate the recipe and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. I love hearing from you! You can FOLLOW ME on:
Caramel Apple French Toast Bake
Equipment
Ingredients
For the French Toast:
- 8 slices of bread French, white, or sourdough
- 3 apples cored and chopped
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the streusel:
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup oats
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 Tablespoons butter melted
- 1/3 cup caramel sauce
Instructions
- Spray an 8 x 8 baking dish with cooking spray.
- Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes and place in the baking dish.
- Add the chopped apples and mix well to combine.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl beat the eggs. Add in the milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, and salt and mix well.
- Pour the mixture over top of the bread and apples in the baking dish. Toss to combine.
- At this point you can cover the baking dish and refrigerate for up to 24 hours or you can preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Bake the French toast casserole for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl combine all the ingredients for the streusel and mix until a chunky mixture forms.
- After baking for 20 minutes remove from oven and evenly sprinkle the streusel on top.
- Return to oven and continue baking for 20 more minutes.
- Remove from oven and drizzle with the caramel sauce.
Notes
Fr ench Toast Recipes
- Apple French Toast from Art of Natural Living
- Caramel Apple French Toast Bake from Hezzi-D’s Recipe Box
- Croissant French Toast from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Crunchy French Toast from That Recipe
- Easy Make Ahead French Toast Casserole from Creative Cynchronicity
- Pumpkin French Toast from Jen Around the World
- Strawberry Stuffed Keto French Toast from Palatable Pastime
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I have to get on the French Toast Bake bandwagon. Breakfast would be so much easier and what more incentive than caramel and apple flavors!
I love that you can make this ahead of time and then bake it in the morning. It sounds amazing.