Baked Apple French Toast

I made this the other day and it was amazing. If you love french toast and you love baked apples this is the way to go. It is so easy and so good. The best part is you can make it up the night before and then bake it off the next morning. 

Baked Apple French Toast: from the Today Show

Baked Apple Filling:

4 medium size apple (I love golden delicious or granny smith, but you can use what you like); peel and slice into 3/4-1 inch pieces

3 Bananas, sliced 1/2 in thick

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 Tbsp butter (you can cut this back if you don't want to use so much butter. Just add water for the part you take out)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp maple syrup (or any pancake syrup)

1. Mix the apples and bananas with the lemon juice to help keep from browning. 

2. In a medium size saute pan combine all the ingredients. Cook on medium high heat 5-7 min to make sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Stir it occasionally. 

3. Place in the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch baking dish. 

French Toast Part:

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

6 slices of  bread sliced 1/2 to 1 inch thick (I used cinnamon swirl bread)

1. Mix the eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon together in a bowl. 

2. Dip the bread into it just like you would if you were making french toast making sure to cover all sides. 

3. layer on top of the apple filling. Pour the left over egg mixture over the bread. 

4. You can either let it rest 10 minutes and then bake it or cover it and let it sit over night and then bake it. Bake 350 degrees uncovered for 30-35 min. 

Serve with powdered sugar or syrup. 

Hints:

1. You could use cinnamon swirl bread, cinnamon raisin bread or challah bread. Just make sure it is a sweet bread. 

2. If you are feeling like you want to spice things up add raisins, cranberries, dried cherries, or nuts to the apple filling while it is on the stove. You could also add pears or other stone fruits to your filling.