Overnight Cinnamon Apple French Toast Bake
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Prepare the night before! Soaked in maple syrup, tender cinnamon apples + topped with toasted pecans. SO GOOD.
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With all the hard work taken care of the night before, you can roll on over to the kitchen in your PJs and simply pop this in the oven, letting you continue with your morning routine with basically zero effort. And in just one hour, you’ll have the most wanted breakfast all. season. long.
reasons to make cinnamon apple french toast bake
- Easy make-ahead recipe. Prep everything the night before, baking right before serving.
- Crowd favorite. French toast is a classic fan favorite, and with a baking dish to serve at least 8 guests, this is perfect for big family gatherings and get togethers.
- Holiday perfection. Made with cinnamon-coated apples nestled in brioche bread cubes soaked in maple syrup and finished off with toasted pecans, this seasonal version is perfect for all the holidays.
tips and tricks for success
- Use sturdy bread. Sturdy breads such as brioche, challah and sourdough are all great options, holding up very well in the egg mixture without becoming soggy.
- Firm apples are best. Use firm, crisp apples, such as honeycrisp apples, that soften well but are not mushy when baked.
- Prep the night before. Baked french toast is one of those great dishes that you can prep ahead of time and is recommended to do so, assembling everything the night before and giving the bread plenty of time to soak the egg custard. This is key for that favorited bread-pudding texture.
- Mix it up. Use a combination of apples and pears, or skip the pecans and add a streusel crumb topping instead.
- Halve the recipe. Need a small-scale version? This recipe can easily be halved and baked in an 8×8 baking dish, reducing the bake time to about 35-40 minutes.
- Freeze before baking. This will preserve the texture and prevent sogginess. Always use a freezer-safe baking dish, label, date and freeze up to 3 months.
Overnight Cinnamon Apple French Toast Bake: Frequently Asked Questions
A sturdy bread that can soak up the egg custard is ideal here. Try using brioche, challah or sourdough bread. Day-old, stale bread is even better.
You can quickly dry out the bread by baking the bread cubes in a single layer on a sheet pan at 275°F for about 10-15 minutes.
Firm, crisp apples that hold their own during the baking process is recommended. Honeycrisp and pink lady apples are great options with a perfect sweet-tart balance of flavors.
A little bit of both! The french toast will be covered for the first 30 minutes (to prevent the nuts from burning), and then uncovered the last 25-30 minutes for that favorited crunchy, caramelized topping!
There can be many reasons for this – too much dairy was used, the bread was soaked too long or the bread was too soft (ex. white bread). If your french toast is soggy, pop it back in the oven, increasing the baking time as needed until the desired consistency is reached.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Yes! Prior to baking, cover the french toast tightly with plastic wrap, then aluminum foil. Freeze up to 3 months. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, sprinkle with pecans and bake as directed, adding a few more minutes to the bake time as needed.
For the best results, we recommend assembling, freezing, then baking to help preserve texture. But if you’ve already baked your french toast, no worries at all – it can still be frozen!
Overnight Cinnamon Apple French Toast Bake
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 large apples, peeled and diced
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
- 1 (16-ounce) loaf brioche bread, cubed
- 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, cubed
- 12 large eggs, beaten
- 2 cups whole milk
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add apples and cook, stirring often, until just tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon; continue cooking until sugar has dissolved, about 1-2 minutes. Let cool.
- Lightly coat a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Place a layer of bread cubes evenly into the baking dish. Top with cream cheese and half the apple mixture in an even layer. Top with remaining bread cubes and remaining apple mixture.
- In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Pour mixture evenly over the bread cubes. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove baking dish from the refrigerator; let stand 30 minutes.
- Sprinkle with pecans; place into oven and bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Uncover; continue to bake for an additional 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and center is firm.
- Serve immediately, sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.
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Hi what kind of apples are best?
We are doing a morning after Wedding Brunch for 100 people and was wondering if I could make and freeze the Overnight Cinnamon Apple French Toast?
Thanks,
Denise Johnson
Apples and cinnamon anything, so good. Not overly sweet and with the hint of cream cheese makes it a great breakfast for guests. Just add a side of fruit!
How does this hold up after cooking? I want to make it to take to a potluck brunch, would it still be good after an hour or so out of the oven?
Can this be frozen. We are going camping in our trailer and would like to make ahead of time. If so, should I cook it before freezing or wait until taken out of freezer?
Absolutely delicious!! Let
It soak overnight and was so moist!
Was excellent! Like apple pie. I used more apples though. I wonder if you can use other fruit as well? This receipe is a keeper
Yes! This recipe is the best I’ve ever had! Great job 🙂
Seriously good! I love all of your recipes and so does my family!
delicious!!! I used walnuts as I didn’t have pecans on hand. Everybody LOVED it!!
it was awsome
This was super easy to make and a crowd pleaser! I used an extra apple because mine were more “medium sized” and I didn’t add the pecans because I honestly forgot but they weren’t missed. The cook time was longer than the recipe stated so I’d be aware you might need about a half hour longer to bake than the recipe calls for. It is definitely a make again recipe!
this was wonderful. my family lives it and I plan on adding it to our holiday line up when we have overnight company.
What can you sub for brioche bread?? I have never seen that here in Japan. But this looks yummy. Is brioche a sweet bread? I do not know what it is. Someone please help.
Yes, brioche is a sweet bread. I used French bread instead and it came out wonderful. I also used Sourdough crusty bread because that is what I had on hand, and it so came out wonderful..
Hello!! I know I am late, but brioche is a mildly sweet buttery bread where instead of white, it’s more yellow. I lived in China and I know they sold it there, but it wasn’t what they called it. I would think Japan should have it too! They are often sold sliced and the top of the bread is rounded, if that helps.
Absolutely delicious- cooked as directed, 25 minutes covered, about 30 minutes uncovered and it was perfect. Added a little pumpkin cream liqueur as part of the milk portion.
This reminds me of a banana and cream cheese baked bread pudding that I had years ago at a hotel in NH
Now that I found gluten free brioche I’ll be able to make your delicious looking recipe
I love that it is sweetened only with maple syrup
This was incredible. Made it today for Mother’s Day. I was able to do overnight and it came out great. As other folks have noted, I was about 90 minutes on the cooking time, but I was able to plan for it, thanks to other commenters. The flavors were great. I might mix the cream cheese and thin it out more like a swirl than chunks, but that’s just being nit-picky. This will be a holiday favorite for sure!!
Made this for a breakfast for dinner night for a special treat for my daughter. Very easy to come together. I had the brioche in the freezer so it wouldn’t go bad before I had a chance to make it and accidentally discovered how easy it was to cube the bread when it’s still mostly frozen. I ended up needing to cook this for about 1hr and 20 minutes to get it set in the middle. Great flavor!
Want to make this ahead of time for Easter! Pla to make it Saturday night so its ready to go in the oven Sunday morning. I’m wondering – do you follow the exact recipe for prepping ahead or do you omit certain steps until day of?
This recipe turned out perfectly. Like others, I baked it a bit longer to get the center firm. I left out the cream cheese, and it worked well without it. I’ll add a bit more Apple next time, but it’s wonderful. Dried cranberries would be a fun addition too!
So good for Christmas brunch! I made a bit of a smaller batch. I used a whole loaf of 365 Cream Cheese Swirl Brioche from Whole Foods, 3 Red Delicious apples, the same sugar and butter, 6 eggs, 1 cup of milk, 2/3 of the vanilla, syrup, and salt, about 1/3 of a block of cream cheese, and a whole lot of cinnamon. I skipped the nuts and powdered sugar, but added a little extra maple syrup before serving. My pan was 9 x 9 and shallow, so just one layer of each item. It came out beautifully! I was a little worried that it would be too much cream cheese, but is was perfect. 365 also makes a Cinnamon Swirl Brioche that I thought would be great too. Highly recommend!
Wonderful flavors. So delicious. Definitely one to put on your Christmas brunch list. I had to cook mine a little longer too because of the eggs.