This easy French Toast Bake is the perfect twist on our favorite breakfast recipe. Soft bread baked with eggs, cinnamon, butter and brown sugar are the perfect start to any morning!
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What Is Your Favorite Breakfast Treat?
In our home, pancakes usually rule the roost. Our kids LOVE them! Every Saturday morning, my husband and young daughter go down to the kitchen before us and make us pancakes. My daughter always selects a “surprise” to put into them. This could be chocolate chips, bananas, peanut butter…. She once even diced up some Oatmeal Cream Pies and put them in there.
My husband is totally fine with all the pancake making, he loves to spend time with this little girl. But, secretly, he his heart belongs to French Toast. He is a French Toast fanatic. There is just something about the crispy outside of the bread, the soft inside, the butter, the cinnamon, the brown sugar…. Then to put syrup on it all. He is a big fan. So, I knew he would be excited about this French Toast Bake.
What Is a French Toast Bake?
This is basically a French Toast “casserole” that you can bake in your oven. It is perfect for feeding larger crowds or just to try something different. It includes all the usual ingredients that you would usually use to make French Toast. No real curve balls here. You probably already have most of these ingredients in your pantry or your fridge!
French Toast Bake Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup, 1 stick, butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 loaf bread (I used a 16 oz loaf of Italian bread) cut into 1/2″ cubes
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions:
- Cut butter into 1/2″ cubes and place at the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Place into a cold oven and preheat oven to 350. As the oven preheats the butter will melt. Leave butter to melt for 5-6 minutes and remove from oven. Stir until completely melted.
- In a small bowl, mix brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of butter. Add bread to pan.
- In a separate mixing bowl, add eggs, milk, vanilla and salt. Whisk well. Pour evenly over bread. Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes or until egg in center is set. Let set for five minutes before serving. To serve, scoop out of the bowl and flip over so the brown sugar is on the top.
Make sure that you are turning the French Toast Bake upside down so that the brown sugar/cinnamon is on top. This really helps with the presentation and all that ooey gooey yummy stuff just belongs on top of his dish! If you’d like, you can top with powdered sugar and/or some fresh whipped cream! Whether you add syrup or not is up to you. Some may think that it makes the dish too sweet. But, if you do, always use all natural/organic syrup. Life is too short to use that stuff with all the high fructose corn syrup!
I hope you enjoy this recipe. I think it could also be a great breakfast recipe for the holidays as well. I”m sure that a lot of us have family in town this time of year. This would be a great idea to surprise everyone one morning! Enjoy!
French Toast Bake
Ingredients
- Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup 1 stick, butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 loaf bread I used a 16 oz loaf of Italian bread cut into 1/2″ cubes
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Cut butter into 1/2″ cubes and place at the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Place into a cold oven and preheat oven to 350. As the oven preheats the butter will melt. Leave butter to melt for 5-6 minutes and remove from oven. Stir until completely melted.
- In a small bowl, mix brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of butter. Add bread to pan.
- In a separate mixing bowl, add eggs, milk, vanilla and salt. Whisk well. Pour evenly over bread. Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes or until egg in center is set. Let set for five minutes before serving. To serve, scoop out of the bowl and flip over so the brown sugar is on the top.
Recipe Notes
Make sure that you are turning the French Toast Bake upside down so that the brown sugar/cinnamon is on top. This really helps with the presentation and I think it tastes better this way. If you’d like, you can top with powdered sugar and/or some fresh whipped cream! And as always, used all natural/organic syrup. Life is too short to use that stuff with all the high fructose corn syrup!
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