Apple Cinnamon Stuffed French Toast – Slices of Brioche bread are stuffed with cinnamon apples and then baked in a creamy custard.
I love a great breakfast casserole. Most of them can be prepped the night before, refrigerated, and then popped in a preheated oven in the morning to finish it off. French toast casserole is a very popular type of breakfast casserole, mostly because the bread has more opportunity to soak up egg custard when sitting overnight.
I’ve made a few types of French toast casserole, but my favorite is a stuffed French toast. I love the idea of custardy slices of bread encasing a sweet filling. You could make a stuffed French toast on a skillet, but it’s much harder to keep the filling inside the bread and prevent it from spilling out into the skillet. So I love making it as a casserole.
Today’s recipe takes a fall approach to a stuffed French toast by using cinnamon apples briefly cooked in apple cider. Here is my Apple Cinnamon Stuffed French Toast!
Tips & Tricks
- Stale bread is best. When the bread is dried out, it will soak up more custard. So it’s best to let the bread get stale before making this French toast.
- Slice the apples in wedges. The apples will hold their structure best if they get sliced into thin wedges. If too thin, they may get soggy and mushy.
- Apple cider vs apple juice. I love the flavor of fresh apple cider that you find near the orange juice. Apple juice just doesn’t have the depth of flavor to make this French toast taste wonderful.
Apple Cinnamon Stuffed French Toast
Ingredients
For the french toast casserole:
- 12 slices Brioche bread left out for a few hours to turn stale
- 6 large eggs
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup apple cider
- 1 cup half and half
- powdered sugar (for garnish)
For the filling:
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 4 medium granny smith apples peeled and sliced
- ¼ cup apple cider
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup golden raisins
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13×9 rectangular pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add 6 eggs, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract, and salt. Whisk until eggs are beaten and mixture is combined. Add apple cider and half and half and whisk gently to combine. Dip one slice of bread and soak in custard for a few seconds. Layer in bottom of the greased pan. Repeat with 5 more slices of bread. Set aside while we make the filling.
- Make apple filling by adding butter to a large skillet and turning heat to medium. Once the butter has melted, add apples, cider, brown sugar, spices, and salt. Stir together to combine. Cook for about 8 minutes until apples are slightly soft and liquid is syrupy. Turn off heat, add raisins, and toss together.
- Pour cooked apples all over the bottom layer of bread slices soaked in custard. Make sure they are in one even layer. Dip remaining slices of bread in remaining custard and place on top of the apples. Pour leftover custard mixture slowly over casserole, ensuring that it's evenly distributed.
- Cover casserole with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to 24 hours to allow the bread to soak up as much bread as possible
- Bake casserole in preheated oven until fully-cooked and top of bread turns golden brown, about 50-60 minutes. Remove from oven and let it sit for 10-20 minutes before serving.
Notes
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More recipes that you’ll love:
Berries & Cream Stuffed French Toast
Apple Pie Slider Doughnuts
Bananas Foster French Toast Casserole
It’s a practical recipe
10/10 recommend these French toast, it is INCREDIBLE! It’s also much easier to make than I thought, thank you for a great recipe!
This was a fun way to change up the regular french toast I normally make for breakfast!! It kind of made our french toast taste like apple pie – so delicious!
Such a fun surprise for the kids. Added marshmallow fluff to the top when served.
Oh yum! This would be perfect to make for a fall weekend brunch. 🙂
This recipe is a perfect way to start my fall day! I am not a morning person but as soon as I smell this cooking, I’m leaping out of bed! Delish!