Cinnamon Toast Breakfast Bake

There’s nothing better than breakfast for dessert....or dinner, right? I’m not much on breakfast for breakfast but serve it to me any other time and I’m okay with that. This little casserole is easy and works for just about any time. I served ours with a cream cheese frosting but maple syrup would be great, too. It reheats nicely in the microwave if by chance you have any leftovers. Keep this around for the upcoming holidays when you need a quick and easy dish to serve!

Cinnamon Toast Breakfast Bake

1 loaf french bread ~ cut into 1/2 in slices

1 cup milk

6 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

6 teaspoons cinnamon ~ divided use

2 teaspoons nutmeg

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup ready made (or homemade) cream cheese frosting OR maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 inch casserole dish with cooking spray.

Arrange one layer of the sliced french bread in the bottom of the prepared pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, 3 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Pour half of the egg/milk mixture over the sliced bread in the casserole dish.

Arrange the remaining bread on top of the bread in the dish and pour the egg/milk mixture over everything.

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and the remaining cinnamon and sprinkle it on top of the soaked bread.

(At this point you can cover with foil and chill it for several hours or overnight to cook later.)

Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.

Allow to cool about 10 minutes then serve with cream cheese frosting or maple syrup.

I'm not much of a breakfast person...but if I DO eat it, I tend to gravitate to pancakes or french toast...muffins or bagels...that sort of thing. Most of the time when I cook breakfast, it's for dinner. So the other night when I couldn't think of anything else to make for dinner, I decided to make french toast. On a whim, I added some brown sugar. I've added granulated sugar from time to time but adding the brown sugar was the way to go! I told IT Guy that this was the best french toast I'd ever had in my life. It didn't need any syrup...but I'm nobody's fool...I added it anyway. But man-oh-man...was this ever tasty!!!

Brown Sugar French Toast

 

3 eggs
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash salt
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 loaf french bread, sliced 1/2 thick
butter for the pan

In a baking dish, beat the eggs with the half and half, vanilla and salt. Stir in the brown sugar.

Lay a few slices of bread in the egg mixture and allow it to soak for 3 - 5 minutes, flipping once halfway through.

Heat a large skillet on medium heat and melt some butter in the hot skillet.

Add the soaked bread and cook until golden brown. Flip to brown the other side.

Place on a cookie sheet and keep in a warm oven until all the bread is cooked.

Serve with maple syrup.

Here's the stuff for the yummiest 

french toast on the planet.

Mix the eggs, half and half, vanilla and salt.

Then add the brown sugar.

Let the bread soak for a few minutes.

 Both sides.

Then toss in a pan to cook.

Flip once to reveal the golden 

brown puffed up deliciousness.

Serve with maple syrup 

or whatever makes you smile.

This recipe has absolutely no redeeming quality or nutritional value whatsoever. It is not a masterpiece by any means. It only has two things. Well, three, if you count the bread. Okay...four including the butter. It's from my childhood and it tastes terrific. My mom used to make this for my brother and me when we were kids. I'm not sure why she used powdered sugar instead of granulated but she did. In fact, the first time I had cinnamon toast with granulated sugar, it kind of confused me. It still does. So I feel it is my mission in life to enlighten those of you who have never had cinnamon toast made with powdered sugar. You will love it. The end result is a crunchy topping caused by the butter oozing into the powdered sugar/cinnamon mixture creating a sweet crust that kind of snaps when you bite into it. Ahhh....you should really try this. It's great for a snack or for breakfast. IT Guy used to make this for our daughter when she was little. He would get creative with the toast and cut it all different ways. Our daughter's favorite was when he would cut the toast into two triangles with a little bit of the crust cut off each side then arrange it to look like a butterfly (see photo below). She's all grown up now but still remembers the "butterfly toast" her daddy made for her when she was three.

Cinnamon Toast 
from Back in the Day

6 – 8 pieces of plain ole white bread
6 – 8 tablespoon of butter – room temp
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place bread on a large cookie sheet and butter each piece with 1 tablespoon of butter. Make sure you butter all the way to the edges!

In a medium sized bowl, combine powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Put two heaping teaspoonfuls on sugar/cinnamon mixture on each piece of buttered bread and spread it around - edge to edge. You want every part covered.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until the bottom of the bread is golden brown and butter is melted and sugar/cinnamon mixture is melted and slightly crunchy.

Allow to cool for a few minutes before devouring.