Today’s recipe is an adaptation from the best recipe I have ever discovered on Pintrest. (I love Pintrest.) Cinnamon French Toast Strata is a recipe to make soon and tuck away into your secret recipe arsenal for breakfasts, brunches (Christmas morning people!), and maybe even dinner. Here’s why:
This dish is insanely tasty! The french toast tops come out that wonderful golden brown and just the right amount of firm, but the insides are still soft. The cream cheese is sweet and creamy. The cinnamon and sugar mixed throughout get a little gooey… and blend perfectly with maple syrup and butter.
This dish is insanely easy to prep! You are supposed to prep it the night before, which means that when your running around like a nut preparing other food and last minute cleaning the bathroom before your brunch guests arrive, all you have to do with this is toss it in the oven.
This dish is insanely easy to cook! Again you just pop it in the oven…
This dish is really pretty. Seriously it looks really good in a pretty baking dish. Right from oven to table.
This dish is super adaptable. I’ve made a gluten free version. I’ve made it with all different types of fruit, changed the spices. Used different flavored breads instead of cinnamon, changed the shape of the bread… you get the point. Each variation I’ve tried has always been met with rave reviews!
And to recap the most important point of all: This dish is insanely tasty! Seriously it’s a super moist cinnamon roll with cream cheese frosting in french toast form. How can cinnamon rolls and maple syrup be bad together? Make this for breakfast this weekend, dinner tonight, or Christmas brunch. I promise you will have many happy happy eaters.
P.S. Just so you know I really like using Greenlee’s Cinnamon bread for this or I found a brand I think might be local called Sunflower (I think). Both these breads have a frosted top already… which is a-okay it only adds to the dish. If you don’t have these available to you Pinch of Yum has a killer looking recipe for homemade cinnamon swirl bread here. Or any cinnamon raisin toast or Cinnabon brand bread will work well too.
PrintCinnamon Swirl French Toast Strata
A perfect winter breakfast. Works great for brunches since the dish is supposed to be made ahead. Kind of like a cinnamon roll with cream cheese frosting in french toast form!
Ingredients
Egg Mixture
- 5 eggs
- 1 and 1/2 cup milk (skim is fine)
- 4 tablespoons sugar
Topping
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Additional
- 1 loaf of cinnamon bread (I like Greenlee’s or homemade, but Cinnabon or any other cinnamon bread will work fine.)
- 1 tablespoon sugar to sprinkle the top
Instructions
- 1. Prepare a 9 X 12 casserole dish by greasing heavily. If your cinnamon bread isn’t pre sliced, prepare by slicing into standard sized slices.
- 2. In a large bowl whisk together eggs, milk, and 4 tablespoons of sugar. Whisk well so eggs become lightly fluffy and all ingredients mix well. Dip each slice of cinnamon bread front and back into the egg mixture and line up in the pan in two rows slightly overlapping each layer. Pour the remaining egg mixture over the bread. Set aside.
- 3. In a new small bowl mix together cream cheese, 2 tablespoons sugar, and vanilla. Mix very well. Drop the cream cheese mixture in dollops over the top of the french toast.
- 4. Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours. This allows the bread to soak up more of the egg mixture. (If you really don’t have time for this step, you can still bake right away though refrigeration improves the final result.)
- 5. When ready to bake heat over to 350* and bake strata until the egg sets and the top is lightly browned. Aprox 55-65 min. If the top begins to over brown before the eggs are fully set cover with foil for the remainder of the cook time.
Aldi’s has an amazing Marbled Cinnamon bread that is delicious in this recipe
Glad to hear it! Hope it came out well. :)
Oh that sounds SO good! I’ll have to give that a try!