Apple-Cinnamon French Toast Bake

This Apple-Cinnamon French Toast Bake makes the perfect breakfast or brunch recipe. It’s simple to make, but tastes amazing!

If you follow along with me, you’ll know that Abigail is my little sous chef! She loves to help me in the kitchen, especially when it comes to baking! She also loves watching cooking shows. It is her love for the Netflix series “Nailed It” that inspired Olivia to start her own Nailed It Junior YouTube Series.

This post is sponsored by Kid Chef Junior,  but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

While making this Apple-Cinnamon French Toast Bake, Abigail started a very interesting conversation. She informed me that I wouldn’t be able to be on the show “Sugar Rush” unless I took some serious baking lessons. But I could be on the show “Nailed It” since I knew how to turn on the oven. She totally called me out on my baking abilities! But that’s OK, I have never claimed to be a chef and if a recipe is posted on this blog, you know it’s a recipe that anyone can do!

This Apple-Cinnamon French Toast Bake is one of those recipes that anyone can do. It actually came from the Kid Chef Junior Cookbook. This cookbook was designed for ages 4+ so that kids could help out in the kitchen and embrace their inner sous chef. But it’s also great for moms like me who appreciate simple recipes that are family friendly.

Kid Chef Junior is written by Anjali Shah. However, the inspiration for the recipes is from her kids.

I love this because there are so many great family friendly recipes throughout this cookbook. It’s written in a way that kids can understand and participate in the cooking! Abigail is already wanting to take over the cooking now that she has this cookbook… and I am totally OK with that!

It wasn’t easy deciding which recipe to make first. But since we have an abundance of apples from our recent trip to Sky Top Orchard, we decided to go with the Apple-Cinnamon French Toast Bake. And we are so glad that we did! I honestly didn’t think we would ever find a french toast recipe to compare with the Creme Brulee French Toast recipe we love to make. But now we have! And we are so excited to add this Apple-Cinnamon French Toast Bake to the mix!

What is even more exciting, is that I am able to share the exact recipe with you! AND this Kid Chef Junior Cookbook is available for pre-order now! You can pre-order the Kid Chef Junior Cookbook here, and it will arrive on your doorstep when it is released on October 9th!

What you’ll need:

• 1 tablespoon room-temperature butter, plus more for greasing the baking dish
• 8 slices whole-wheat bread
• 1 medium apple
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup strawberries, blueberries, or other berries of choice, for serving
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar (optional)

How to Make Apple-Cinnamon French Toast Bake

1. Oil the pan, and preheat the oven. Use your fingers or a paper towel to spread butter all over the inside of the baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut up the bread and apple. Using a cutting board ad a kid-safe knife, cut the bread into small cubes. Spread the bread pieces evening to cover the bottom of the baking dish. Core the apple. Cut the apple into small pieces. Sprinkle the apple pieces over the bread.

3. Measure and stir together the wet ingredients. In a medium bowl, crack 1 egg. Remove any shells, and pour the egg into a large bowl. Repeat with the second egg. Add the milk, cream cheese, maple syrup, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla to the large bowl. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir until smooth.

4. Add the mixture to the pan. Pour the wet mixture over the bread and apple. Stir everything around in the pan to make sure it’s completely coated.

5. Bake the French toast. Bake for 45 minutes. Once cooked, cut into small squares, top with the berries, sprinkle with powdered sugar (if using), and serve.

I love how the berries make this dish so colorful!

If you are like me, you probably noticed that this is a much healthier french toast recipe than most. It uses very little sweeteners (just a tiny bit of syrup, brown sugar and the optional powdered sugar), but you wouldn’t even know it because of the taste. This is common throughout the Kid Chef Junior Cookbook. You’ll find  that applesauce and bananas are used as sweeteners instead of sugar. You’ll also find veggies and fruit added into the recipes. I love this because it is important for me to feed my girls meals that are healthy for them. But I also want to feed them meals that they love and enjoy eating. This cookbook really provides the perfect blend of this.

Some of the recipes we are looking forward to making in the next couple weeks are:

• Magic Unicorn Toast
• Egg-cellent Muffin Cups
• Lasagna Roll-ups
• Easy Peas-y Mac and Cheesy
• Broccoli-Cheese Nuggets
• Alphabet Pretzel Sticks with Cheesy Dip
• Cookie Bites

These are only a few of the delicious recipes you’ll find inside this Kid Chef Junior Cookbook. If you have a little sous chef at home as well, make sure to pre-order your book today! Trust me, your chef will be so excited when it arrives!

Make sure to pin this Apple-Cinnamon French Toast Bake so you can make it this weekend!

Apple-Cinnamon French Toast Bake Recipe from the Kid Chef Junior Cookbook:

5 from 5 votes

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Apple-Cinnamon French Toast Bake

This Apple-Cinnamon French Toast Bake makes the perfect breakfast or brunch recipe. It’s simple to make, but tastes amazing! This recipe is out of the Kid Chef Junior Cookbook.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp room-temperature butter plus more for greasing the baking dish
• 8 slices whole-wheat bread
• 1 medium apple
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup strawberries, blueberries, or other berries of choice for serving
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar optional

Instructions

1. Oil the pan, and preheat the oven. Use your fingers or a paper towel to spread butter all over the inside of the baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut up the bread and apple. Using a cutting board ad a kid-safe knife, cut the bread into small cubes. Spread the bread pieces evening to cover the bottom of the baking dish. Core the apple. Cut the apple into small pieces. Sprinkle the apple pieces over the bread.

3. Measure and stir together the wet ingredients. In a medium bowl, crack 1 egg. Remove any shells, and pour the egg into a large bowl. Repeat with the second egg. Add the milk, cream cheese, maple syrup, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla to the large bowl. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir until smooth.

4. Add the mixture to the pan. Pour the wet mixture over the bread and apple. Stir everything around in the pan to make sure it’s completely coated.

5. Bake the French toast. Bake for 45 minutes. Once cooked, cut into small squares, top with the berries, sprinkle with powdered sugar (if using), and serve.