This Apple Crumble Pie Baked French Toast is just my excuse to eat pie for breakfast. Seriously. It’s a combination of my apple crumble pie recipe and a baked French toast casserole. You can prep everything the night before so all you need to do is pop it in the oven and a delicious breakfast is ready an hour later. Just in time for your second cup of coffee.
Have you ever wanted to go apple picking? I have some pretty fun memories of picking apples with my cousins at their camp. My uncle had this brilliant idea to take an empty blench bottle, cut a big hole in it and attach it to a long pole. This became our apple picking stick, because we all know the best apples are at the top of the tree. It worked really well for scooping the apples off the trees. While one of us tried to scoop the apple off the tree, the rest of us stood underneath the tree ready to try catch the apple if it didn’t stay in the bucket. There was much laughter and even more bruised apples.
Perhaps inspired by these wonderful childhood memories, I added apple picking to my Bucket List as something I wanted to do with my family. I tried many times to co-ordinate an apple picking adventure with one of my trips to Toronto without much success. BUT! As luck would have it, during our family’s vacation week at the cottage, I saw that Barrie Hills Farm had apple picking and that they had a selection of apples ready to be picked. AND they were only an hour away from the cottage. It’s like the stars aligned just for me.
I packed the family up in the vehicle and set out to pick apples on a crisp morning. My daughter was just as excited as I was. After the tractor ride out to the apple field, we were greeted by rows upon rows of apple trees. The large juicy apples were like Christmas ornaments hanging from the trees and I was like a kid Christmas morning, running from tree to tree picking the large crisp fruits. It didn’t even take 15 minutes before our bags were full and we were waiting for our ride back.
I may have gone a little overboard. My husband will TELL you I went overboard. Together we picked close to 30 lbs of Zestar! apples. Now I understand why people were only picking baskets of apples and not full grocery bags like I was. The challenge is now to consume (or preserve) those 30 lbs of apples. Let me tell you, there is nothing quite like biting into a crisp Ontario apple. Especially ones that’s been picked right off the tree.
This Apple Crumble Pie Baked French Toast is totally going to help with that endeavor. I’ve discovered I’m becoming a bit of a lazy morning person where all I like to do is sip on a cup of a coffee in the company of my husband and not run crazy in the kitchen putting a big spread together for breakfast. Unfortunately, the kids are disappointed by this latest change so I decided I needed to find a middle ground. Now I assemble breakfast the night before so I all I need to do is put it in the oven to cook. Or in this case, sprinkle the crumble overtop of the French toast mixture and place it in the oven.
As for the rest of these apples, I think some apple jelly, apple sauce and apple butter are in order. Right after I make a batch of my Apple Harvest Muffins and Apple Fritter Cake. And another Apple Crumble Pie Baked French Toast or two. Do you have any suggestions on what I should do with all my apples? Help me out and tell me what you would do!
Apple Crumble Pie Baked French Toast
Ingredients
- 1 loaf sour dough bread cubed
- 2 apples peeled, cored and diced small
- 8 large eggs
- 2 ¼ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Streusel
- ½ cup flour
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup oatmeal
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup butter melted
Instructions
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Cut the sour dough bread into cubes, approximately 1-2” in size. Set aside.
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Peel, core and finely chop the apples. Set aside.
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In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, cinnamon, brown sugar and vanilla extract until well combined. Add the apple pieces and bread into the bowl and stir gently to combine. Press the bread down gentely with the spoon or your hands to help the bread absorb some of the egg mixture.
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Transfer the bread mixture into a well greased 9x13” casserole dish.
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If you are making it for the next morning, cover the casserole dish with plastic food wrap and keep in the fridge overnight.
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To make the streusel, combine the flour, brown sugar, oatmeal and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Stir with a fork to combine. Slowly add the melted butter into the mixture, stirring to make a crumb like texture with the fork. Cover and store in the fridge until you are ready to bake the French toast.
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The next morning, remove the French toast dish and streusel from the fridge and preheat your oven to 375 F.
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Stir the streusel with a fork to achieve the crumb like texture if it hardened overnight in the fridge. Sprinkle the streusel over top of the French toast.
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Place the French toast in the oven, uncovered, and bake for 50 – 60 minutes, depending on how cooked you like your French toast. My husband prefers for it to be well done so I cook it for at least the 60 minutes.
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Remove the French toast casserole once cooked and serve hot. The dish is even more delicious with a drizzle maple syrup overtop.
Recipe Notes
Leftovers keep well in the fridge for 2 to 3 days in airtight container.
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Did you make this recipe? Have a meal planning tip to share? Tag @365daysofeasyrecipes on Instagram . I’d love to see!
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