French toast has never been easier and yet looked so elegant at the same time. Baked apple French toast is made the night before and can be modified with your favorite fruit.
In honor of Valentine’s Day this past weekend, my friend Haley and I conjured up the epic idea of hosting a Lord of the Rings movie marathon, the extended versions, complete with all 7 hobbit meals.
When I ran this idea by my boyfriend a few weeks prior, not wanting to impose a house-full of our friends on him for Valentine’s Day, he responded in the best way possible, “This is it best Valentine’s Day idea ever – you do love me!”
And then I went off the deep end, looking up middle earth inspired recipes and researching the typical kinds of food eaten throughout the series. Everyone who has read the books and/or seen the movies is familiar with elven lembas bread and the mass quantities of ale consumed by the hobbits, what did their typical diet entail?
For starters, there are 7 different meals including Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Elevensies, Luncheon, Afternoon Tea, Dinner, and Supper.
Since I think I was the only one who was up early enough to eat Breakfast (which was a glass of tea and a muffin), we started the day at 9:30am with Second Breakfast and the original animated 1977 movie, The Hobbit.
Inspired by a hobbit’s love for bread, eggs, apples, and honey I prepared baked apple french toast with slices of apple between the bread and topped it off with streusel. Served with a side of sausage, all my hobbit friends were satisfied (see below for proof that hobbits were present). At least until the next meal 2 hours later.
The next meal was elevensies, served at 11am of course. This consisted of lembas bread wrapped in crafted mallorn leaves – you can find out about that and the rest of the menu on my Lord of the Rings Menu post.
Side note: One of my friends has celiac and I was able to make her own portion of this French toast using gluten-free bread and gluten-free oats. In the past I’ve also made it with dairy-free milk so no matter your dietary restrictions, you can still enjoy this with the appropriate substitutions!
One year ago: Skillet Rolls for Two
Three years ago: Meyer Lemon Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
Four years ago: Caramelized Chicken with Jalapeno Cream
Five years ago: Chocolate Covered Cherries
BAKED APPLEÂ FRENCH TOAST WITH STREUSEL TOPPING
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
FRENCH TOAST
1 (16-oz.) French bagette
8 eggs
2 cups 2% milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
STRUESEL TOPPING
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
Directions:
- Butter a 9×13 baking dish. Cut bagette into 1″ slices. Align slices into rows in baking dish. In large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour over bread slices, separating slices as you pour so the mixture gets between them. Place slices of apples between the bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight (maximum of 18 hours).
- Streusel may be made the night before and sprinkled on before baking the next day: In medium bowl whisk together oats, brown sugar, & cinnamon. Cut in butter using two forks, a pastry blender, or your fingers. Mix until combined and crumbly. Add pecans, if desired, and mix. Set aside
- Remove baking dish from refrigerator and bring to room temperature (approximately 30 minutes). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle streusel evenly over top of bread slices. Bake uncovered for 40-50 minutes, until cooked through, lightly browned, and there is no visible liquid. Center should be moist but not runny. To prevent over browning, loosely lay a sheet of aluminum foil over top during last 10 minutes, if necessary. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with maple syrup.
Source: Adapted from my Baked Blueberry French Toast with Streusel Topping.
15 comments
[…] For breakfast we’re going to add a little apple fun by making Baked Apple French Toast. […]
[…] size of the crowd) I will usually make something sweet to go with it like Flourless Banana Muffins, Baked Apple French Toast, or Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls. And I usually will slice up a bunch of fruit or make a quick fruit […]
[…] would be perfect right about now. I actually made it back in February for our Lord of the Rings movie marathon (Balin is one of the dwarves). It was devoured in true hobbit form. Another great slow cooked beef […]
[…] by a hobbit’s love for bread, eggs, apples, and honey I prepared baked French toast with slices of apple between the bread and topped it off with streusel. Served with a side of […]
The instructions for the streusel mention whole wheat pastry flour but none is listed in the ingredients, could you please clarify?
My apologies, I adapted this from a recipe in which I did use the flour but in this one I did not. I have removed it from the directions. Thank you for letting me know!
[…] out for future-you? Some of my favorite breakfast/brunch dishes have overnight steps. Take my overnight baked apple French toast for example. It also happens to be a huge hit with […]
I love the idea of a LotR marathon; tried one a few years ago but did not get enough support for the vision I had, and it kinda flubbed. Sigh. I did come away from it with recipes for Hobbit Pie and Aefin’s Spice Scones, though.
Some years back we had stayed at a bed and breakfast that served a Peach French Toast, and I got the recipe. I prepared it a few times, but was not really happy with it, so I tried a few changes that, I suppose, made something totally different.
I switched to a 9- of 12-grain bread, which I ran through a food processor.
I bumped the egg count up from 5 to 8 (actually, the higher number was used in other versions of the otherwise same recipe)
I also added nuts and tried different fruits.
So, what I actually have is a fruit filled bread pudding, which the family seems to like for breakfast of dessert.
Recipes are like the Pirate’s Code; we like to think of ’em as guidelines!
Boo to not getting support! My friend thought of the idea and then I went into super planning mode with the food. I thought about having people contribute but it was easier to just cook it all myself with a little help from my friend the night before and morning of to prep. Then everyone who attended just threw me a couple bucks.
I just watched the first LOTR movie and loved it. So fun that you had a big marathon. I need to make this french toast to eat while I watch the next movie.
Hhaha my lab mate will LOVE the sound of this party. What a great way to spend the weekend. The crunchy topping here sounds delicious :0
Michael gained so many respect points for you because of your LOTR marathon and all the meals (Michael’s family always does second breakfast and elevensies, etc for his sister’s birthday)
this french toast is gorgeous and something that would def go over well with Michael’s LOTR loving family
Woo! I’ve never known anyone else what has celebrated such meals. Just wait until he sees everything else I made ;-)
OMG, your LotR marathon/party sounds amazing! You’re so darn clever. =) And this french toast looks fabulous. I made baked/overnight french toast for the first time at Christmas, and LOVED it. Your version with apples looks SO delicious.
Thanks Amy! I definitely made as much as I could ahead of time in order to handle cooking 7 meals for 12 people. Overnight/baked French toast wins every time!