| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 2 hr 35 min |
| Active: | 1 hr |
| Yield: | 8 to 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 loaf day-old challah bread, crust removed, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup apple cider, plus more for syrup if needed
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 3 Gala apples, peeled, cored and diced
- 3 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
- 2 tablespoons apple brandy, such as Calvados, optional
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, softened
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- Softened butter for greasing the baking dish
- 3 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 1/2 cups half-and-half
- 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
Instructions
- For the French toast and caramelized apples: Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
- Spread the bread cubes on a large baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 15 minutes. Let cool. Adjust the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine the sugar, apple cider and lemon juice in a large, high-sided saute pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in the Gala and Granny Smith apples and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and caramelized, about 15 minutes. Add the apple brandy if using; cook a few minutes longer. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the apples to a bowl (you don’t want the apples to be too wet) and let cool. Reserve the apple cooking liquid for serving.
- For the streusel: Mix together the butter, salt and sugar in a large bowl until smooth. Add the flour, oats and cinnamon and mix until well combined. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Squeeze the mixture in your hands to form larger and smaller clumps.
- For the casserole: Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with some softened butter. Whisk the eggs, yolks, vanilla and cinnamon in a large bowl until smooth. Whisk in the half-and-half, then fold in the cooled apples. Add the bread and stir to coat, pressing down to make sure bread is totally submerged. Let sit for 10 minutes.
- Transfer the apple-bread mixture to the buttered baking dish, pressing down to make sure the top is an even layer. Scatter the streusel evenly over the top. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until puffed and lightly golden brown, another 30 minutes or so. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.
- Reheat the reserved apple cooking liquid. (If very thin, simmer briefly over medium heat until reduced to a syrup; if there isn’t much, add some apple cider and simmer briefly.) Turn the heat to low and whisk in the cold butter, piece by piece, until emulsified. Serve with the French toast.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 10 servings |
| Calories | 591 |
| Total Fat | 30 g |
| Saturated Fat | 17 g |
| Carbohydrates | 69 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 30 g |
| Protein | 11 g |
| Cholesterol | 183 mg |
| Sodium | 305 mg |
Reviews
Made this a day ahead so it would be ready to go for Christmas morning and it was a hit!! Thanks Bobby!!
Mine didn’t look as pretty as the picture and just looking at it out of the oven, I wasn’t sure it was going to taste very good, but I (and my family) were wrong. Served with the apple cider syrup, it was delicious. It took time making all the components, but worth it. Thank you, Bobby!
Delicious! Light and airy, just the right amount of sweetness, and rich apple flavor.
Well I fully plan to make this on Wednesday but Bobby Flay I am a little upset with this recipe. I live in Pearland Texas and we do not have a big Jewish population so after going to 4 stores and 2 bakeries I realized if I want challah bread I will have to make it myself so that is what I am doing today so I truly hope this is as good as I expect it to be LOL !!!!!!
This was so good!!!! It was light and airy. It had a great apple flavor with a wonderful apple crisp crunch on top. This one is a keeper. My whole family really liked it. I can’t wait to make it again. Thank God it’s fall!!
I make this almost every Sunday. Family loves it! Warm, yummy and comforting. I use cinnamon bread and add raisins for extra yummy goodness.
Sounds awesome everybody should try it
I had leftover homemade raisin bread and wanted to use it up. Unfortunately, all the french toast casseroles wanted me to soak the bread overnight except this one. Yay minimal soaking! It came out fantastic. Like I said, I didnt use challah, just old dry bread which I toasted in the oven like the recipe says to do. I skipped the whole apple bit but I threw in some blueberries that were starting to shrivel and used Paula Deen’s praline topping. Im gonna have the leftovers for dessert with ice cream.
I am giving this 5 stars because, even though my version was lacking, it was because I changed the recipe a bit. I only wanted to make half the amount so naturally I halved the ingredients list. Not knowing how to halve an egg, I used 2 large eggs and 1 egg yolk. Definitely not enough for the custard. Wasn’t sure how to fix this after I mixed the apples and custard mixture with the bread crumbs and saw that it did not look moist enough. I went ahead and baked it anyway. (There was definitely enough streusel topping) It baked faster and, I assume, was drier than it should have been. However…..it still tasted soooo good! Next time I will make the entire recipe. It’s definitely labor intensive but I made it ahead of time and it worked. Yum!
This recipe is a home run! The taste and texture are divine, but surprisingly, it is the sauce that sets it off. Make it in advance to meld the custard and apple flavors and add the streusel topping before putting it in the oven. It is a crowd pleaser!