Baking con Brio: Budget-Friendly Baked Cinnamon French Toast

There are some ingredients that are inevitably in my pantry all the time, tight budget or not. Unfortunately, French bread is not one of those ingredients, and this morning, I was craving French toast!

My hubby suggested baking up something sweet with regular sandwich bread, and it couldn't have been a better idea. Of course, using regular sandwich bread for French toast is probably a culinary sin and would get me chopped (perhaps literally) on a Food Network TV show, but hey, you use what you can, right?

My rendition of Baked Cinnamon French Toast is easy, kid-friendly, and budget friendly. Enjoy with a cup of fresh-brewed java on a morning when you're craving sweet, crispy French toast on a sandwich bread budget! :)

Budget-Friendly Baked Cinnamon French Toast

Ingredients:

5 slices whole wheat sandwich bread
4 eggs
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. white sugar
2 Tbsp. cinnamon
*Sliced bananas and yogurt for topping, if desired*

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 8 x 8 in. baking pan with cooking spray.

Slice the bread into nine equal parts per slice, as if you were creating a tic tac toe board with each piece of bread. Place all the bread pieces into the pan.

Whisk together the eggs and milk and vanilla. Pour the mixture evenly over the top of the bread pieces.

Create the crumb topping by mixing together the sugars and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Add 3/4 of the crumb topping by sprinkling evenly across the bread and egg mixture in the pan.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Add the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture to the top of everything. Today I served each portion up with sliced bananas and vanilla yogurt. Easy, cheap breakfast perfection!