This simple French toast casserole recipe features crusty bread, crisp apples, and a spiced streusel topping and can be prepared a few hours ahead of time or overnight for easy preparation the next morning.
10-12ounces(283-340g) stale1 French bread (or other crusty bread)cut into large cubes (about 8-9 cups of bread)
2large appleschopped (about 3 cups)
¼cup(58g) unsalted buttermelted
1cup(200g) firmly packed lightbrown sugar
8large eggs
1 and ½cups(360mL) milkany, but I prefer whole cow
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
2teaspoonsground cinnamon
¼teaspoonsalt
STREUSEL TOPPING
½cup(60g) all-purpose flour
¼cup(50g) firmly packed light brown sugar1
1 teaspoonground cinnamon
½teaspoonground nutmeg
½teaspoonground ginger
¼teaspoonground allspice
¼teaspoonsalt2
¼cup(57g) unsalted buttercold and cut into small pieces3
Instructions
APPLE FRENCH TOAST
Spray a 2 quart casserole or 9" x 13" baking dish with non-stick spray. Place about 1 cup of the apples in the bottom, then toss the rest with the bread and put on top.
In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and salt, and whisk again until everything is completely combined.
Pour the egg mixture over the bread, cover with a lid or foil, and allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight.
When you are ready to bake the casserole, preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC) and make the streusel topping.
STREUSEL TOPPING
Place flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and salt into a small bowl. Toss together with a fork until combined.
Add the butter to the bowl, then use a fork to smash the pieces of butter into the mixture.
Use your fingers to press the ingredients together until butter is in small chunks. I like to pick up chunks of butter and gently pinch them between my thumb and pointer and middle fingers to flatten slightly. I then drop the flattened pieces of butter back into the mixture so they pick up the dry mixture, then go through the whole bowl again with all of my fingers to "fluff" the mixture and turn the flattened pieces back into larger chunks. You are aiming for mostly medium-size chunks and some smaller and larger chunks.
Bake the casserole uncovered for 35 minutes, remove from the oven, and sprinkle the apple spice streusel evenly over the top of the entire casserole.
Bake for an additional 18-20 minutes or until the casserole is baked through and the egg mixture looks set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool about 15 minutes before serving. Store leftovers in the refrigerator up to 5 days. Casserole freezes well, up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and heat as needed. Unbaked casserole freezes well, up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and proceed with baking.
Notes
Stale bread: the reason for stale bread is because you want the bread to soak up all of the liquid ingredients. Stale bread has far less moisture in it, allowing for intake of the custard. I usually cut up my bread and let it sit out during the day or even overnight an extra night, if I have that much advance planning.
Brown sugar: I like to use all brown sugar, but you could use all granulated (white) sugar or half brown and half granulated. Granulated sugar will bring a little more texture to your streusel. The instructions and method are the same.
Salt: I use table salt. If you use a larger, flakier, or coarser salt, you may want to increase this to ½ teaspoon. If you are using salted butter, decrease the added salt to just ⅛ teaspoon.
Butter: I typically cut my ¼ cup of butter into 16 pieces. Cut the stick in half long ways, turn it on its side and cut in half long ways again, then slice into 4 slices. This will make 16 small pieces. You can also use salted butter. Decrease the added salt to just ⅛ teaspoon.
Halve the recipe: you can easily halve this recipe and put it in a smaller casserole dish or 8" square baking pan. Bake time is 50-55 minutes.
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.