Apple Raisin Baked French Toast

This post has been sponsored by Ontario Apple Growers. As always, all opinions are our own.

Anyone else feeling that Holiday season stress? Like stress with an extra large capital ‘S!’

So how about I help you out with this Apple Raisin Baked French Toast. So come Christmas day, Boxing Day, and New Years day, you’ve got one less thing to stress about. I’m feeling more relaxed already.

One of my favourite parts of the holiday season are those leisurely holiday mornings. There’s no rushing off to school, no packing of lunches, no need to even change out of your PJs. And you’ve got time to enjoy a relaxing breakfast with your family. Nothing fits the bill more than a casserole full of cinnamon scented custardy French toast studded with apples and raisins. Not just any old apples – fresh and local apples.

We’ve partnered once again with Ontario Apple Growers and have used those beautifully sweet and crunchy Ambrosia apples in this Apple Raisin Baked French Toast. Because what goes better with apples than cinnamon and raisins?

There are two things I love about this French toast:

1. It can be made the night before, in fact it needs to be made the night before so the bread has time to soak up that delicious custard mixture. So it’s pretty much a hands free morning – more time to relax with a hot cup of coffee.
2. It’s a fantastic way to use up any leftover bread that’s gone a tad stale. Actually, bread that’s a day or two old works the best here – again more room to soak up that milk and egg mixture.

So more time for relaxing with family (and hot coffee!) and less food waste? Sounds like a winner of a holiday breakfast to me!

Dara

Apple and Raisin Baked French Toast

Print recipe

Prep time	15 minutes
Cook time	45 minutes
Total time	1 hour
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Breakfast

Ingredients

• 1 Pound loaf French bread (cubed)
• 2 Ambrosia apples (diced)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 1/2 Cups 2 % milk
• 8 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup walnuts (chopped)
• 1 Tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 Tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter (cubed)
• maple syrup and yogurt (for serving)

Note

This recipe works best with a day or two old bread. Leftovers keep for a few days in the fridge and can be reheated in the microwave, making for a perfect make-ahead weekday breakfast.

Directions

1.	Spray a 9 x 13 pyrex with cooking spray. Combine bread cubes, apples, and raisins in pyrex and toss to evenly combine.
2.	In a large bowl combine milk, eggs, sugar, and cinnamon. Whisk to combine. Add milk mixture to bread mixture to cover, pressing down with your hands to ensure all the bread is soaked with the milk mixture.
3.	Cover pyrex with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.
4.	In a small bowl combine flour, brown sugar, walnuts, cinnamon and salt. Add butter and use your fingers to mix butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles wet sand with a few pea size crumbs. Place in the fridge until you are ready to bake the French toast.
5.	Once you are ready to bake the French toast, preheat oven to 350 and remove French toast from fridge.
6.	Remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the streusel mixture evenly over top. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, until the French toast is set and puffed up and golden brown.
7.	Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Serve warm with maple syrup and yogurt, if desired.