Fruity French Toast Casserole

Name: Fruity French Toast Casserole
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Yield: 8 Cups
Ingredients: 8 cups bread cubes; try whole-grain bread 2 cups sliced or chopped fruit; fresh; frozen; or canned and drained 4 eggs; slightly beaten 1 cup lowfat milk 2 teaspoons vanilla ¼ cup sugar ¼ cup margarine or butter; softened ¼ cup sugar ½ cup flour; all-purpose or whole-wheat

A baked version of French toast with your favorite fruit. Ready in about an hour!

Video

Baking dish with a layer of bread cubes, peaches and a crumbly topping.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Makes: 8 Cups
Nutrition Facts: View label

Ingredients

8 cups bread cubes; try whole-grain bread

2 cups sliced or chopped fruit, fresh, frozen, or canned and drained

4 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup lowfat milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup margarine or butter, softened

¼ cup sugar

½ cup flour, all-purpose or whole-wheat

Directions

Wash hands with soap and water.
Rinse or scrub fresh fruits under running water before preparing.
Lightly oil an 8x8-inch baking dish or 2-quart casserole. Add bread cubes and fruit.
In a medium bowl, blend eggs, milk, vanilla and sugar. Pour over bread and fruit. Stir gently to wet all bread with egg mixture. Wash hands after handling raw eggs.
Cover and refrigerate until all liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes or overnight.
Just before baking, remove casserole from refrigerator. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Make the topping: In a small bowl, combine the softened margarine, sugar, and flour with a fork until crumbly.
Uncover the casserole and sprinkle topping over fruit. Bake until completely set and starting to brown, about 35 to 40 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F on a food thermometer. A longer baking time is needed when the dish is chilled overnight. Serve warm.
Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours.

Notes

This is a great recipe for using up extra bread.

Variations:

For the fruit, try peaches, pears, berries or diced apples.
Lightly sprinkle with cinnamon or other spices such as nutmeg, ground cloves, allspice or cardamom at the end of step 2.
Try topping with a spoonful of yogurt when serving.

Featured in a Food Hero Monthly

Comments

Submitted by watkinbr on Mon, 10/28/2019 - 08:31

This was great! I used one loaf of Franz Gluten Free bread, which equalled 8 cups, and I used coconut milk instead of regular. I used two cans sliced peaches (no juice) for the fruit. I did the 30 minute option, then baked for 55 min. Was great fresh, and as leftovers!

Submitted by tierrabonita on Fri, 07/26/2019 - 00:28

Tried this recipe with canned peaches and it turned out great! Tasted even better the next day. Can't wait to try it again with a different fruit. Oh, and it did take the full 40 minutes to really set. My 4 year old kept calling it cake and asked for it again the 2nd day. My 7 year old clearly doesn't love the texture of bread pudding at this point, but nothing against this recipe on that!

We tried it again! This time I used a thermometer to temp it and thus cooked it longer to get to temp. In the end, it turned into more of a cake than the first time we made it and everyone raved about it! The texture was amazing to our family. We will make this again and again, and even put it in our holiday morning rotation.