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Baked Apple Pecan French Toast

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Baked Apple Pecan French Toast is the ultimate family breakfast, just perfect to feed a crowd. Both soft and crunchy, it features some thick challah bread slices, baked apples with a splash of whiskey, and an irresistible pecan-sugar mixture.
  • Author: Delphine Fortin
  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Cook Time: 45 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
  • Yield: 8 servings 1x
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Baked Apple Pecan French Toast is the ultimate family breakfast, just perfect to feed a crowd. Both soft and crunchy, it features some thick challah bread slices, baked apples with a splash of whiskey, and an irresistible pecan-sugar mixture. 

Ingredients

Scale

For the pecan mixture:

  • ½ cup (90g) light or dark brown sugar
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) maple syrup
  • 6 Tablespoons (90g) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 ½ cups (190g) pecans, chopped

For the apples:

  • 2 medium apples, peeled, cored and cut into thick slices
  • 4 Tablespoons (60g) unsalted butter
  • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) Whiskey or other liquor of choice

For the French toast:

  • 8 large eggs, beaten
  • 2 ½ cups (60 cl) milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • A pinch of salt
  • 1 loaf challah bread*, sliced into thick slices
  • Whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Grease a 9×13 inch (23×33 cm) baking dish with butter.
  2. Start with mixing brown sugar, maple syrup and melted butter in a bowl. Pour half of the mixture at the bottom of the dish and sprinkle with half the pecans. Set aside.
  3. Melt butter in a large skillet placed over medium heat and cook the apples until tender, about 5-8 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add sugar and Whiskey, and continue cooking until alcohol is evaporated. Remove from heat and set aside.
  4. In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of salt.
  5. Soak each slice of challah bread into the egg-milk custard, allowing the bread to sit at least a minute to soak up the eggs, then arrange the bread in the baking dish, and pour the remaining egg mix over the bread slices.
  6. Arrange the apple slices in the dish in a way that they overlap with the challah bread slices.
  7. Add the remaining pecans to the remaining brown sugar-maple mix from step 2, and spread over the dish.
  8. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the French toast is golden and crisp. Let cool slightly, and serve with a side of whipped cream.

Notes

* You can replace challah bread with brioche or French bread.

Make ahead instructions. Prepare the French toast up to step 5 (including step 5), then cover the dish and store in the refrigerator overnight. Apples can be stored in a separate container in the refrigerator, and the pecan mix can be stored, covered, at room temperature. The following day, assemble the French toast dish from steps 6 to step 7, then bake.

Recipe inspired and adapted from Half Baked Harvest.