Thanks to a quick dunk in cinnamon sugar, these Baked Cinnamon French Toast Sticks come out of the oven crispy on the outside and tender and soft on the inside.
Check out this crispy cinnamon coating...
Kansas City was hit with fantastically loud, lightning-filled storms last night. Miracle of all miracles, the toddlers sleep through the entire thing! They slept through thunder so loud and lighting so bright that it sounded like a battle was going on in the backyard.
I was not so lucky. After a long night watching the storm rage, by about 4am I had one thing on the brain. Breakfast. Breakfast is serious business in our house, and I wake up ready for just about anything we might have to put on the table. Plus coffee. All the coffee.
All summer we've been playing around with new things to serve for breakfast. Some savory, some sweet. Some that we eat during the week and some, like Baked Cinnamon French Toast Sticks that have weekend written all over them.
How to Bake French Toast Sticks
These from-scratch, surprisingly simple breakfast pastries are dunked in eggs and cream and then rolled in cinnamon sugar. Line them up on a baking sheet topped with foil. If you have a cooling rack that will fit on top, add it to the baking sheet. Keeping the French Toast Sticks elevated as they bake will allow heat to circulate all around them and will make all of the sides equally crispy.
Baking French Toast Sticks is great on two levels:
- Easy to scale up. You can bake them for as many or as few people as you'd like. I've made them many times for just Molly and Clara (though they can eat as many as a table full of adults) and baked them for a whole crowd of extended family while we were at the beach.
- Easy clean-up. Unlike making stove top French toast, where you dip and then place the French toast right on a hot skillet, by the time these little beauties are done baking, all the other dishes can be washed and put away.
And I don't even need to get into how much fun French Toast Sticks are compared to their classic counterpart right? Sticks = instant breakfast fun. Eat them on their own, dip them in syrup, serve them over tons of berries. It's hard to go wrong.
Check out the video to see, in under a minute, how these are made!
Just don't expect any leftovers.
More French Toast Recipes
- Baked Banana French Toast with Pecan Crumble
- Baked Pumpkin French Toast
- Bagel French Toast
- Baked Cinnamon French Toast
Favorite Tools
Crispy Baked Cinnamon French Toast Sticks
Equipment
- 2 Baking Dishes
- Foil
- Wire Rack
Ingredients
- 4 Thick-Cut Slices of Bread (we like brioche or Texas Toast)
- 4 Eggs, whisked
- ½ cup Heavy Cream (you can substitute milk if you'd like)
- 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Sugar
- 2 tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
- Berries or syrup, for serving
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350F / 177C.
- While oven is heating, line a baking dish with foil and place a cooling rack on top. (You can bake the French Toast Sticks directly on the baking dish, but they won't be as crisp on all sides.) Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Slice bread into even "sticks".
- In one shallow baking dish combine eggs, cream and vanilla in a shallow baking dish. Whisk well.
- In a second shallow baking dish, stir together sugar and cinnamon until evenly combined.
- Roll bread sticks in egg mixture until they are well coated. Then roll them in cinnamon-sugar and place on baking dish, leaving at least ½ inch between each stick.
- Bake until crisp and golden brown on top, 20 to 24 minutes. (These do not need to be turned during cooking, but do check them after about 15 minutes. If the tops are starting to turn dark brown, you can flip them over to prevent over-cooking.)
- Serve immediately with berries or syrup or other toppings that you'd like!
Nutrition
Molly and Clara's summer ballet class ended last week. It was a raging success for the girls who loved every minute. Until the next one, I sure will miss the sight of all those little girls in pink leotards playing before class started....
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Joy
Oh wow, these looks amazing! I love the video. I'd run to my kitchen to make them now, but A) I'm at my son's gymnastics class, and B) I already made pancakes this morning. I'm definitely pinning this recipe for later!
Joy
Oh, and your girls are simply adorable in their leotards. I'm glad they loved their ballet class.
Jess
Thanks so much Joy! I think we're all a little sad that dance is over...though gymnastics has been on my mind. Maybe we'll have to give that a try next!
Richard Price
That looks absolutely delicious! Can't wait to try them!
Julie
Could you soak the bread overnight and coat in the sugar in the morning? (To save time?)
Jess
I've tried it Julie, but never had much success. Every time I've soaked the bread overnight it's absorbed so much liquid that it's too soggy to hold its shape - especially in the case of brioche which usually has such a large crumb. IF you do have success soaking it, you may need to bake the sticks a bit longer to be sure they are cooked all the way through. (When just dunked and then baked, the custard doesn't soak all the way to the center, so they cook a bit faster.)
Alysa Vera
I was thinking of the best way to make crunchy French toast for my family and this recipe topped it! It's so easy to prep, cook and clean up and they came out so great tasted delicious and my oldest daughter too said it was delicious and she's not always pleased with sugary breakfast but she was today and I topped them off with a little powdered sugar but overall it was good thank you! I'm definitely going to be making these again. 🙂
Jess
Wonderful! Thanks so much for your note Alysa!
Mel
In case anyone is wondering, these freeze and reheat beautifully. I made the recipe as directed, cooled the sticks completely, froze in a Ziploc, and reheated in the toaster with a couple sticks in each toaster slot (make sure the bread slices aren't too thick to fit--I used homemade bread and cut according to my toaster slots). After the toaster, I did a 10-15 second run in the microwave just to warm any cold spots that remained, but they still stayed crisp due to that first toasting.
Jess
Awesome Mel! Thanks so much for sharing this! I'm definitely going to freeze a batch myself with your tips - I've been looking for all the homemade breakfast shortcuts I can get with my girls starting kindergarten this year.
Mel
No problem! I'm stocking our freezer for back to school as well. If it helps, you can freeze muffin batter and batter for baked (not yeast) doughnuts as well. Just thaw the batter in the fridge, scoop into the baking pan, and bake as usual. You can also freeze scones and biscuits (cut but unbaked). Bake them directly from frozen but for an extra minute or two and on a few layers of parchment paper to prevent over-browning the bottoms. Best of luck with kindergarten!
Liz
I just made these this morning. They were excellent. I was however disappointed in how they stuck to the rack. My rack is non stick and I also sprayed it, but they all stuck to it.
Any better way?
Jess
Hi Liz - I'm so sorry to hear that. I actually can't imagine why they stuck if you sprayed the rack. I haven't had any trouble with that! Perhaps try rubbing some cooking oil on the rack next time instead?
Hannah
These were incredible!! I had some brioche I needed to finish off and came across this recipe. After trying the first batch, I went to the store for more bread so I could make more and have them in the freezer for easy breakfast for the family throughout the week! I did also have issues with them sticking to my rack… I used the rack for bacon first and thought they’d be greased well enough to just put the toast on right after, but perhaps I should have oiled a bit more. All the same, these are amazing and we’ll definitely make lots more in the future!
Jess Smith
So glad to hear your family enjoyed them as much as mine does!