baked apple french toast

 

this is definitely not a "quick-throw-something-in" dish.  but it would make a great snow-day or holiday breakfast because you can make it the night before and bake it first thing in the morning.

modified from a recipe from martha stewart living, november 2010

martha's recipe called for "thick slices of brioche" for the french toast.  after haunting the bakery departments of three stores, i could not find such a beast, and the only recipe i could find (in my house - i did not travel the interwebs) showed me that brioche is made like dinner rolls, not a loaf.  so i used my favorite bread machine recipe instead... and i added 1 diced roma apple at the end.  due to my dietary restrictions, i used milk alternatives: powdered non-dairy creamer for dry milk, 1/3 C coconut cream for heavy cream, 2 C almond milk for regular milk.

apple cinnamon granola bread
(1.5 pound loaf in the bread machine)

1 C warm water
1/2 C applesauce
1 T melted butter
4 tsp brown sugar
1/3 C dry milk
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
2-1/4 C whole wheat flour
1-1/4 C bread flour
3/4 C granola ( i use 2 packages apple-cinnamon nature valley granola bars, pummeled)
1-1/2 tsp yeast

add to bread machine bucket in the order listed by your manufacturer, or in the order listed here.  set bread machine to the whole wheat cycle with a light crust.  cool completely, slice ~10-12 and let air for a day or so.  you want it to be firm.

 

baked french toast

(yields ~8-10)

6 large eggs, beaten senseless
2 C milk
1/3 C heavy cream
1/3 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 C coarsely chopped pecans (i prefer walnuts)
1 sm-med peeled & diced roma apple
2-3 T cinnamon sugar mix

1.  beat the eggs and whisk in the next 6 ingredients until the batter is smooth.

2.  dip thick slices of bread into the batter and over lap them in a greased 9x13 non-metallic baking dish.  pour remaining batter over the top.  cover & refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.

3.  preheat oven to 375.  top the french toast with chopped apples and nuts.  sprinkle 2-3 T cinna-sugar over the top.  cover with parchment and foil and bake x 25 minutes.  remove foil and continue baking x 20 minutes more or until golden brown.

serve with warm syrup.