With the busy holidays approaching, we’re in desperate need of easy meals that are festive, flavorful and fun. This overnight apple pie french toast casserole recipe is just that. It can be prepared the night before and tastes like the holidays. All you have to do is throw it in the over in the morning before brunch and your family will wake up to the smell of delicious apple pie…in breakfast form!
The key to this recipe is infusing the apples with as much flavor as possible. Annnnd the finishing touch is a buttery streusel. This adds sweetness, texture and, for the lack of better words, yumminess! You could create this dish the morning of, but we recommend prepping it the night before. This will let the flavors meld together overnight for an amazing casserole.
Apple Pie French Toast Casserole
Sweater: Patagonia | Towel: Target | Baking Dish: Amazon
You could probably find all of the necessary ingredients for this apple pie french toast in your pantry. That’s why we made it for brunch, it didn’t require a trip to the grocery store 😀 Here’s a brief breakdown of how to make it, but full directions will be below.
Ingredients include apple (granny smith,) butter, brown sugar, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, cubed brioche bread or french bread (preferably 2 days old,) eggs, lemon, almond milk (or regular milk,) vanilla extract, and all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, and maple syrup. Pretty simple, right?
Making the casserole can be broken down into 3 steps, the apple filling, the egg custard, and the streusel topping.
The apples need to be peeled and thinly sliced. Then you just briefly cook them with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. After they’re soft and aromatic, take them off the stove and squeeze fresh lemon juice in the mixture. Let it cool completely, this is important or else the hot apples will cook the custard and you’ll have a gross mess.
While the apples are cooling, you can make the custard. We used the Kitchen Aid for this, but it can also be done by hand. Whisk together the eggs, milk, brown sugar, vanilla extract, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Whip it until everything is combined and silky.
Now for the streusel, Mix the all-purpose flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and some salt in a separate bowl. Add cold butter with a pastry cutter, and keep mixing until everything is combined, it’ll look kinda sandy with bigger chunks of butter. Store in a plastic bag in the fridge, you won’t need it until it’s baking time.
Once the apple mixture is cold, you just need to layer it in a buttered baking dish with the cubed bread. Once it’s layered and fills the dish, pour the custard on top so everything is saturated. Pay extra attention to the edges or they’ll get dry. Cover the dish in foil and put it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours but preferably overnight.
The next morning, top the casserole with the streusel and bake it in the over at 350 for an hour. Top with powdered sugar, maple syrup, fresh apples, whipped cream…all the things!
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