Baked Caramel Apple French Toast

It's Christmas Eve!  We're having friends over tomorrow night to celebrate, so today we'll be doing some relaxing frantic cleaning and food preparation.  Actually, the house is fairly clean overall, but we need to put away some clutter and mop the kitchen and bathroom floors.  With the dog it's pretty impossible to keep the floors clean because she slobbers like a rabid beast all over the kitchen every time she drinks from her water bowl and the bathroom is her favorite place to sleep while we're gone (bizarre, I know). 

Before we kicked off this cleaning frenzy, I made a fancy breakfast.  I'll skip straight to Steve's 'review' of the dish...He gave it 7 out of 10.  Apparently he doesn't love fruity breakfast French toast as much as I do.  I though it was pretty good, worthy of at least 8/10, maybe even 8.5!

Here's the recipe, and some photos along the way.  The best part is that this can be made the night before, and baked in the morning!  I'll give instructions for the few changes you'll need to make for the overnight version at the very end. 

Baked Caramel Apple French Toast
Serves...I don't know, maybe 4-6.  

NOTE!  I made roughly a half batch and it was good for the two of us with three smallish pieces each (the recipe below is for the 'whole' batch, not the half we made). Use bread that is pretty hearty that you slice yourself, not that soft airy french bread you get at the grocery store.  I used a seeded baguette that was pretty dense and cut six slices from the loaf.  Figure on 2-3 slices per person, depending on the diameter of the bread. 

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
2 large tart apples (such as Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 in thick
3 eggs
1 cup milk (don't use skim)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 loaf good bread, sliced 3/4 to 1 inch thick

Optional: maple syrup for serving (I don't think you need it, there's enough caramel apple sauce in the pan)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

On an cooling rack set over an ungreased cookie sheet, place the bread slices in a single layer and place in the oven for 5-8 minutes, then flip the slices and bake another 5-8 minutes.  The goal is to get good, dry slices, without adding color to the tops of the bread.  This will help the bread soak up the milk and egg mixture and is worth the extra step.  Let the bread cool while you finish the next steps.  Increase oven to 350.

In a small saucepan, bring the brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved, about 2-4 minutes.  Pour into an ungreased 9x13 inch pan. 

Arrange the sliced apples on top.  (Remember, I made only a half recipe so I had to use a smaller baking dish than the 9x13 size).

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Dip the bread slices into the egg mixture and let soak for 30 seconds per side, flipping once to coat both sides.  Arrange the bread on top of the apples. 

 
Bake for 30-40 minutes.  The apples will be soft and the caramel hot and bubbly.  If the bread slices start to brown too much, cover very loosely with foil.  To serve, place the French toast browned side down and arrange apples on top.  Spoon extra caramel sauce over the top if desired.

To make ahead:  Arrange sliced apples in pan first, then cover with caramel sauce (helps keep apples from browning so much overnight).  Place bread slices, soaked in egg mixture as in the original recipe, on top of apples and caramel.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate overnight.  In the morning, remove from refrigerator about 30 minutes before baking (while oven is preheating).  Remove plastic wrap and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.