Caramel Apple French Toast

warning...more leftover photos ahead :)

Yesterday, I had a group of friends from my church over and I tried a new recipe for a french toast that you make up the night before and bake in the morning. As a busy hostess, I didn't have time for photos yesterday but there were two small pieces leftover so I reheated them this morning and had breakfast in the garden with leftover sliced fruit and FRESH coffee.
I thought I would enjoy watching birds coming to the feeder while eating a peaceful breakfast alone but this french toast is so good I don't think I even looked away from my plate! I loved it even better this morning than I did yesterday but I think that too was due to trying to be a good hostess and keeping an eye on my guests to make sure they didn't need a refill or anything.
The caramel sauce, baked apples and cinnamon flavors are so good together, it seems like this should be a dessert and not a breakfast! In fact, I savored every droplet of caramel sauce by dipping my apple and pear slices in it which tasted so great all the fruit took a dip :)I won't need to eat again until Jeff comes home for supper tonight.

I found this recipe from the blog, The Sisters' Cafe and they have it named Overnight Apple French Toast. I took the liberty of renaming it here because the caramel sauce is what really makes this dish, especially for me since I do not like traditonal syrups. They also picture it served as it is baked with the apples and sauce on the bottom - I chose to flip it upside down when I served it so the apples were on top and the extra sauce was spooned over the french toast and running down the sides.

Caramel Apple French Toast (from Erin, The Sisters' Cafe)

1 cup brown sugar
½ cup butter
2 Tb white corn syrup
3 large apples, peeled, seeded, and sliced
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 loaf of French bread, sliced thick (you definitely won't need all of it)
cinnamon


To make the caramel, melt butter in saucepan and then add brown sugar and corn syrup. Heat for 5 minutes, allowing it to boil. Remove from heat and pour into a 9x13 glass pan. Place apples over the caramel in the pan. In a separate bowl mix the eggs, milk and vanilla. Dip the bread into the mixture, coating liberally. Place bread over apples in the pan (you won't need all the bread, just enough to fill the pan). Sprinkle very generously with cinnamon. Cover and refrigerate overnight so that all the flavors can penetrate. In the morning, heat the oven to 350°, and cook for 45 minutes.

Updated to add that I have since made this as a half batch in an 8 x 8 pan and it worked wonderfully - Jeff is probably a 2 thumbs up on this one :)

Marsha - Thumbs Up
Jeff - Thumbs UP