Sweet Hawaiian bread and a pinch of cinnamon make this Baked French Toast recipe a delicious addition to your morning. It’s perfect for a holiday brunch, or just for a weekend breakfast with your family.
I love breakfast foods. It really doesn’t matter what it is – I could eat breakfast at any time of the day. In fact, it’s not unusual to find us eating scrambled eggs or other breakfast favorites, like Easy Breakfast Potatoes or Breakfast Pizza and the like for dinner at least a few times a month if not once a week.
I always love to have a sweet component to our breakfasts, and this Baked French Toast definitely fits the bill. It gets it’s sweetness from the use of Hawaiian Bread (my favorite base for a French Toast Bake). It tends to hold up to the liquid better than French Bread in my opinion.
CINNAMON BAKED FRENCH TOAST
This is an incredibly simple recipe in which eggs, milk, cinnamon and sugar are combined and poured over the torn pieces of bread. Then a quick topping is made from flour, brown sugar, butter and more cinnamon. Bake it, slice it and serve it up! The best part is that you don’t have to prep this casserole overnight, although you certainly can.
HOW TO MAKE BAKED FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE
- Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees and greasing an square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Tear a large loaf of Hawaiian bread into bite sized pieces, or cut into squares with a sharp bread knife. The method is really a personal preference and won’t affect the outcome of the recipe.
- Fill up the baking dish with the Hawaiian bread chunks.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Pour this mixture over the chunks of Hawaiian Bread in the baking dish, stirring a bit and pressing down to get the bread to soak up the liquid.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt with a fork, then cut in some cold butter with a pastry cutter or fork until it combines to resemble coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the sugar mixture evenly over the bread.
- The French Toast bakes for about 50 minutes, or until the texture is to your liking.
FRENCH TOAST BAKE RECIPE NOTES
- My recipe calls for baking the french toast casserole for 50 minutes. I don’t like mushy french toast, so I tend to cook it a little longer. But if you want a more bread pudding-like consistency, try 40-45 minutes. The egg will be cooked, but the bread will have a more moist texture.
- Customize this recipe by adding fruit like berries or apples. I think pineapple would actually be pretty amazing.
- Another customization to try would be to add sweetened cream cheese as a layer. Add half of the bread to the pan, then pour half of the egg mixture on top. Add a few dollops of sweetened cream cheese (cream cheese blended with granulated or powdered sugar and a bit of milk), then finish off with the remaining bread and egg mixture.
- I used an 8″x 8″ pan for this recipe, which makes about 4-6 servings. It can easily be doubled for a 13″x 9″ pan to make 8-10 servings. This recipe also doesn’t call for preparing the night before, but you can certainly do that if you prefer. Just prepare it the night before, cover with plastic wrap or foil and stick it in the fridge overnight. Pop it in the preheated oven in the morning. Because it’s been chilled, you may need to extend the cooking time by 5-10 minutes.
WHAT GOES WITH BAKED FRENCH TOAST FOR BRUNCH?
Here are some delicious recipes we love to serve for brunch that would pair perfectly with this cinnamon french toast casserole.
- Baked Egg Muffins
- Fruit Salad Recipe
- Tropical Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing
- Deviled Eggs Benedict
- Smoked Sausage and Potatoes Hash
- Asparagus, Tomato & Goat Cheese Frittata
Baked Cinnamon French Toast
Ingredients
French Toast:
- Butter for greasing the pan
- 1/2 of a 16 oz. loaf of Kings Hawaiian Bread torn/cut into 1 inch cubes
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/4 cup nonfat milk
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Topping:
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup cold butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use butter (or cooking spray) to lightly grease an 8"x8" baking dish.
- Fill baking dish to the top with the torn bread pieces.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, sugars, cinnamon and vanilla. Pour over bread pieces.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt with a fork. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or fork to combine until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over the bread mixture.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Serve warm.
Notes
Does this recipe have to be made with Hawaiian bread or with any bread work?
You could use french bread instead. I like the sweetness of the Hawaiian bread.
I just made plans for the day after Christmas and this looks like the perfect thing to put together the night before, pop in the over and take the stress off myself! Thanks for sharing!