Spotlight on Breakfast: Baked Apple Cinnamon French Toast

by Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger

25 Mar 2008 03:53 AM

I have recently begun to make a more concerted effort towards eating breakfast. Not only does it boost your metabolism, but it helps our body wake up and it staves off cravings for less than ideal snacks later in the morning. However, I generally hate cold cereal. Not to mention the fact that I have five pairs of big blue eyes staring at me every morning asking, "What's for breakfast mom?"

With that said, I figured that I would spotlight breakfast this week and offer some of our favorite fair for both fancy mornings and mornings on the run.

Baked Apple Cinnamon French Toast

This dish is so good that I get requests for it even in the summer when having the oven on is ideal in the morning. It is a great dish to have for busy mornings because the casserole needs to be made several hours ahead. You can simply make it the night before, throw it in the oven when you get up and by the time everyone is dressed and ready to eat breakfast, the french toast will be done.

You will need:

3 cups nonfat milk

2 cups egg whites

3 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1-pound loaf sliced whole-wheat bread (for extra thick slices, use home made bread)

1 cup chopped dried apple rings (3 ounces)

1/2 cup raisins

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

Directions:

Whisk milk, egg whites, honey, vanilla and salt in a large bowl until slightly foamy.

Trim crusts off 8 bread slices and set aside. Cut the crusts and the remaining bread into 1-inch pieces. Toss the cut bread with dried apples, raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl.

Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Transfer the bread mixture to the pan. Lay the reserved crustless slices evenly over the top of the casserole, trimming to fit. Whisk the milk mixture one more time, then pour evenly over the bread. Press the bread down with the back of a wooden spoon, making sure it's evenly moist. Cover with parchment paper, then foil, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bake the casserole, covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until puffed, set and lightly browned, about 20 minutes more. Let stand for 10 minutes; dust with confectioners' sugar and serve.

Valorie Delp shares recipes and kitchen tips in the food blog, solves breastfeeding problems, shares parenting tips, and current research in the baby blog, and insight, resources and ideas as a regular guest blogger in the homeschooling blog. To read more articles by Valorie Delp, click here.

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Learn more about Valorie Delp

Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line.

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Lauri Griffin (2703) 25 Mar 2008 07:26 AM

Yum, I will try this!

MommaColleen (9241) 25 Mar 2008 11:53 AM

Oh my...that sounds scrumptious! Thank you for sharing your recipe.