One of the things that makes Christmas special (or any holiday, really) is the food we eat. We look forward to the tastes and smells of the season and associate them with wonderful memories. Christmas breakfast is a pretty big deal. I bet most of you out there either have a standby dish that your family raves about or you spend hours scouring Pinterest for the perfect Christmasy breakfast to serve. Well, I want to help you save time because I know especially at Christmas, time is so valuable. So, I’ve created a series just for you titled: Christmas Breakfast Series. (catchy title, isn’t it?) For the next 5 days, I’ll be posting a delicious, new Christmas breakfast recipe each day. Beginning with…caramel-apple french toast with vanilla whipped cream. Heaven.
We have a tradition in our house that while we open our stockings on Christmas morning, we enjoy an oven-toasted croissant with strawberry jam, berries and hot chocolate. Frequently though, we end up having breakfast #2 at about 10 o’clock and this caramel-apple french toast is one of our all-time favorites. Are you ready for this? I don’t know if you are, because people are going to be hounding you for this recipe. It’s ok, go ahead and share on Pinterest, Facebook or email the link to a friend. I love it when you share!
The first thing you need to know before you start making this is that it needs to soak overnight in the fridge. So, plan ahead!
Ok..on to the good part. You start with a caramel-y concoction of brown sugar, butter and water, which you may have to restrain yourself from eating straight from the pot. (Don’t do it. You’ll burn your mouth. Just trust me) Then you lay the apples on top and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Next, you place the bread on top of the apples. Whisk up the eggy mixture together and pour it evenly over the bread and sprinkle with nutmeg. Then, cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, you’ll bake it for about 45 minutes and it will come out all toasty and brown on the top and bubbly and caramel-y on the bottom. Whip up your cream with your mixer (I love my KitchenAid) and serve. Then wait. For the oohs and the ahhs.
Seeing this picture kind of makes me wanna run up stairs and have more. But, I won’t. Well, maybe. At least not right this second.
- FRENCH TOAST
- ¼ c butter
- 1¼ c brown sugar
- 1 T water
- 3 medium granny smith apples
- 1 t cinnamon
- 7-8 slices of bread, cut into ½" slices
- 1½ c milk
- 6 eggs
- 1 t vanilla
- Dash of nutmeg
- VANILLA-WHIPPED CREAM
- ½ c heavy whipping cream
- 1½ t vanilla
- ¼ c powdered sugar
- Combine butter, brown sugar and water in small pot and cook over medium until bubbly. Stirring often.
- Pour into 9x13" pan and let cool 10 min.
- Peel, core and slice apples into ¼" slices and arrange on top of caramel sauce, so the apples are just touching.
- Sprinkle apples with cinnamon.
- Slightly overlap bread on top of apples.
- Whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla. Pour over bread evenly.
- Sprinkle with nutmeg and cover with plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350F, remove plastic wrap and bake, uncovered for 45 min.
- During the last 10 min of baking, pour cream into mixer and beat until fluffy and whipped.
- Add vanilla and sugar to whipping cream and beat for 20 seconds more.
- Serve upside-down so the apples are on top and add a dollop of vanilla-whipped cream.
- Serves 6-8
I know this is going to become one of your favorites. I can’t wait for you to try it. Let me know how it turns out for you and make sure to come back tomorrow for the next installment of my Christmas breakfast series.
Enjoy!
(*Note: The links in this post are Amazon affiliate links, which means I get a little kickback if you buy something through that link. No cost to you, but it does help me to be able to continue creating awesome posts)
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