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For a Tuesday treat or upcoming brunch, make this Baked Cinnamon Crunch French Toast. Made with a vanilla egg custard, each piece is stuffed with whipped cream cheese and finished with a cinnamon crunch topping. It’s that cinni “crunch” topping, that gets everyone, it really is delicious. Every piece of toast is soft, buttery, and custardy inside, yet caramelized around the edges…almost like a creme brûlée. Enjoy warm with just a little butter. Beyond delicious!

overhead photo of french toast in skillet with cream and flowers

I haven’t been that into baking lately. Ever since Christmas I’ve been baking a lot less. Which I guess makes sense since we did so much baking in December.

What I have been into, is baking more wholesome sweets. And while it’s a little tricky at times, I love the challenge it brings. It’s something new and fun for me!

All that said, we had lots of snow this past weekend. So just like that, I was left wanting to bake up something sweet for a nice breakfast/brunch. Cozy snow days are always best for baking.

And while I know Easter may not be until late in April, there’s nothing wrong with being prepared and planning ahead!

whipped cream cheese in mixing bowl

The idea

I’ve said this many times before, but I grew up eating the Panera bread cinnamon crunch bagels. They were always my favorite with a little butter smear on top. So freaking good, right?

I’ve created a few recipes with the cinnamon crunch topping in previous years, but never a french toast. So when the idea came to me, I knew it would be good. A custardy french toast with that delicious cinni-crunch topping might even be better than the bagels.

I had to make it.

cream cheese stuffed in the bread before cooking

The details

Start with the cream cheese. First, I should mention that if you’d prefer, you can skip the cream cheese altogether. But I do think it makes this french toast really delicious, so personally, I wouldn’t.

You’ll want to whip the cream cheese with some whipping cream until it’s light and airy. Then take your thick pieces of challah (or brioche) bread and use a knife to make a small pocket in the middle of each piece. Stick the cream cheese into the pockets.

prep photo of the bread in the egg custard batter

From here, everything is pretty straightforward. The custard is a simple mix of eggs, milk, and vanilla. Dip each piece of bread into the custard, then arrange in the baking dish. Sprinkle over some cinnamon sugar.

Once the french toast has been assembled, place it in the fridge for thirty minutes, or up to overnight. This is great if you want to have breakfast all prepped and ready for baking in the morning!

french toast in baking dish with piece missing

Before baking, make the cinnamon crunch topping. It’s just brown sugar, mixed with cinnamon, flour, and butter. It clumps up as it’s mixed, so you can easily sprinkle it over the french toast before baking.

As the french toast bakes, the custard sets, the cream cheese becomes warm and even creamier, and the topping begins to caramelize becoming crunchy.

french toast on plate

Everything together is delicious, so DELICIOUS you guys!

This is by far the sweetest treat I’ve baked up since the holidays, but wow, it’s good. And it’s really great for special mornings and holidays.

french toast on plate close up showing cream cheese in the middle

Obviously serve the french toast warm. It doesn’t need any toppings, but a little sliver of butter is always welcome. And if you have extra whipped cream cheese (you should), add a dollop of that. YUM.

But be sure to keep this recipe in mind to liven up your weekends ahead. Especially Easter weekend, this will be perfect!

french toast on plate

Looking for other easy breakfast dishes?? Here are my favorites: 

Cinnamon Knots with Coffee Icing

Easiest Cinnamon Crunch Knots

Berry and Cream Cheese Croissant French Toast Bake

Lastly, if you make this Baked Cinnamon Crunch French Toast, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!

Baked Cinnamon Crunch French Toast

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Servings: 8
Calories Per Serving: 357 kcal

Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

Ingredients

Instructions

  • 1. Grease a 9×13 inch-baking dish with butter. In a bowl, mix 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle half the cinnamon sugar over the bottom of the baking dish.
    2. In a bowl, using an electric mixer, whip the cream cheese 1 minute. Add the whipped cream and vanilla and gradually increase the speed to high. Whip until fluffy, 1-2 minutes.
    3. Grab the bread and make a 1-inch slit at the top, move your knife to create space in the bread, being careful not to poke through to the other side. Spread the inside of the bread with cream cheese, press to enclose (see above photo). You will not need all the cream cheese, save the rest for serving.
    4. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and salt. Submerge each piece of bread into the egg mix, allowing the bread to sit at least a minute to soak up the eggs. Arrange the bread in the baking dish. Pour the remaining egg mix over the bread slices. Then sprinkle over the remaining cinnamon sugar. Cover and place in the fridge 30 minutes or overnight.
    5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375° F. In a bowl, mix 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, the flour, and butter. Arrange over the bread slices.
    6. Cover and bake 25 minutes, remove the foil and bake another 20-25 minutes or until the French toast is deeply golden.
    7. Serve the french toast warm, topped with any additional whipped cream. Enjoy!
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frecnh toast in baking dish close up

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Comments

    1. Hi Robbie,
      So sorry, I really am not sure, the egg is a huge piece of making French toast. Please let me know if you find something that works for you! xTieghan

    1. Hey Emily,
      Yes, you will want to whip that first:) I hope this recipe turns out amazing for you, let me know if you give it a try! xx

  1. Hi HBH Team,

    This was really tasty, at least the way that I made it. So thank you!
    I did have a question about making the cream cheese filling. In Step 2, you are directed to whip the cream cheese and then add the whipped cream. There is no instruction previous to that to whip the heavy cream. Do you add sugar? (I sweetened mine a bit.)
    TIA for clarification.

    1. Hi Lauren,
      Wonderful!! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for making it. Sorry for any confusion, I did not add anything to the whipped cream:) Have the best week:) xx

    1. Hi James,
      This recipe is only on the blog, the recipes that are in the cookbooks are exclusive to the books:) xTieghan

  2. So you recommend using day or two old bread? I know in some recipes it recommends using bread slightly dried out to really soak up the batter. Thoughts?

    1. Hey Maggie,
      You can use day old bread or fresh bread, either works well for you here:) Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love the recipe!! xTieghan

  3. Can’t wait to try this one! Looks like you baked it in a Dutch oven instead of a 13×9 pan? I’m guessing as long as it holds everything is really doesn’t matter what kind of dish is used? Thanks!

    1. Hey Zach,
      You bet, it’s really versatile so any large oven safe dish will work! I hope you love the recipe, let me know if you give it a try! xx

  4. 5 stars
    I made this with Brioche bread because I had a loaf that I needed to use up, and my slit at the top wasn’t working to stuff so I used the cream cheese mixture between slices and it turned out wonderful in spite of the adaptation. I plan to make this for our next staff meeting.

    1. Hi Pam,
      Awesome!! Thanks so much for sharing your feedback, I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed! xx

  5. Tieghan,
    Can this recipe be made in a cast iron Dutch oven over a campfire and with coals on top of the lid?
    I’m always looking for camp recipes for scouting.
    Thanks,
    RIcardo

    1. Hi there,
      Sorry, I really have no idea, I have never cooked using that method, but you could certainly give it a try! Let me know! xTieghan

  6. 5 stars
    This turned out amazingly! Not soggy at all! I followed the recipe to the letter however I made the challah bread a couple days before to really knock it out of the park lol! Thank you Tieghan for another successful meal!

    1. Hi Ashley,
      Thanks so much for making this recipe, I am so glad it was enjoyed!! Have the best week:) xTieghan

  7. I made this for dinner tonight, it was absolutely amazing!

    Recipe edits: The filling; I didn’t use heavy cream in the whipped cream, increased the vanilla extract to a tablespoon. Added crumbled bacon to the top once it was fully cooked.

    1. Hey Ryan,
      Happy Friday!! I love to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks a bunch for making it! xxT

    1. Hi Nicole,
      Yes, just follow the recipe as written:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan

  8. 4 stars
    This was delicious and definitely reminded me of the heavenly Panera bagels. I personally thought there was too much custard and it was very wet and eggy. I’ll definitely use less next time! I also felt like stuffing the bread with the cream cheese was pointless because it just mixed with the wetness and got lost. Dolloping it on top when eating was fantastic. Can’t wait to make again with a few adjustments!!

    1. Hey Amanda,
      Awesome!! Thanks so much for making this recipe, I am so glad it was enjoyed. Have a great weekend:) xTieghan

  9. 5 stars
    Okay so I thought mine was going to be a disaster but it turned out surprisingly well. So have no fear! I used brioche bread from
    Aldi that was pre-sliced. I also used a 13×9 glass baking dish. It was a little hard to arrange all the slices in this dish with them being so thin, so I had to kind of stack them on top of each other a little. I was worried about this, but it ended up being fine. I covered the dish and kept overnight in the fridge to bake in the morning, which I would highly recommend. Because my slices were arranged on top of each other, the bottom got a little soggy and the top more crispy while baking, but overall it was still delicious! The whipped cream cheese is so good and the cinnamon crunch tastes just like the good old Panera bagels! Thanks for this fun Sunday morning recipe!

    1. Hey Danielle,
      Awesome!! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for giving it a go! Thanks for sharing what worked well for you. Have the best week:) xT

  10. Are you supposed to add the heavy cream to the whipped cream cheese? Just curious vanilla is listed twice. Both are vanilla extract right?

    1. Hi Kristen,
      Yes, you will add the heavy cream to the whipped cream cheese in step 2. You are using 1 teaspoon of vanilla in step 2 and 1 tablespoon of vanilla in step 4. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx

  11. 5 stars
    I don’t like French toast…never have, but my family does, so I made this recipe. Holy moly – it converted me! The whole family literally licked their plates clean, including me. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe…will be adding to our rotation!

    1. Hey Courtney,
      Wonderful!! Love to hear that this recipe was a hit, thanks a lot for making it! ☘️xx

    2. 5 stars
      Huge hit at our house! After reading the other comments I made this about 2-3 hours before I baked it, rather than the night before. I also baked it at 400 rather than 375. We just let it go till it didn’t jiggle. I added a little orange juice to the cream cheese filling. It baked up beautifully like a soufflé, it was a real show stopper! We topped it with birthday candles!

      1. Hey Anne,
        Happy Sunday!! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for making it and sharing your feedback! xx