A simple, buttery, french toast cinnamon roll love child drizzled with naturally-sweetened cream cheese frosting. Inexpensive enough to serve a crowd, but decadent enough to make this morning special.

 

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The thing about whole grain bread is that it is not white bread. When you grew up like I did on Wonder bread slices and french toast was slim, flimsy, and easy to eat 18 slices of it without thinking, whole grain french toast can be disappointing.

It’s much less custard-with-a-crust. Instead, it can turn into hearty, lightly-sweetened egg bread.

No worries. I have the answer.

First, that flimsy nonsense was not even real bread.

Second, just smother it in naturally-sweetened cream cheese frosting. It’s all about balance, right?

Cinnamon roll french toast is the perfect answer to someone who loves both cinnamon rolls and french toast and wishes they had made a baby.

Oh, that’s just me?

 

 

I’m sure you will love this anyway. It’s all the things that make a special breakfast awesome – butter, bread, eggs, cream cheese, maple syrup, cinnamon, and vanilla.

And it prevents waste by helping you use that stale bread – or maybe that loaf of the Easiest Bread Ever that didn’t turn out quite right because we’re still mastering homemade bread (or maybe you just didn’t pay attention and underbaked it, ahem. It happens.)

This simple, buttery, french toast cinnamon roll love-child is inexpensive enough to serve a crowd and decadent enough to make any morning special. Perfect for holidays or family gatherings when you want to make a memorable breakfast but don’t want to wake up extra early to prepare it.

 

 

Tips for Making Great Whole Grain French Toast:

 

Soak

Soak it in the egg mixture overnight, casserole-style. This gives the denser whole grain breadtimes to absorb the custard.

Add Maple Syrup to the Custard

Rather than loading the french toast with white sugar, I add a little maple syrup.

Vanilla & Cinnamon

Yum!

 

Be Frugal & Green

In order to avoid using plastic wrap or other disposable covers for this casserole, I use my Pyrex baking pans with lids (affiliate link). Easy to cover and refrigerate overnight, easy to store leftovers, and easy to take with me to a friend’s brunch (or whatever I do in my imaginary fancy social life).

We got them over 8 years ago. They are my only rectangular baking pans, and they are still going strong!