Weekly Recipe: Apple French Toast Casserole

I posted on Facebook earlier this week that I was baking this yummy breakfast dish for dinner. I was flooded with requests from my family and friends who wanted me to share the recipe - so here it is! This is a low-calorie recipe from one of my favorite cookbook lines: The Hungry Girl. It can be kind of expensive to buy all these ingredients for just one batch, so I doubled the recipe and made it in a 13 x 9 pan. If you aren't interested in being healthy, you could probably sub some of the low-fat stuff for full-fat and it would taste even better, I'm sure!

The Big Apple French Toast Casserole

Recipe from Hungry Girl 1-2-3 by Lisa Lillien, 2010

4 servings, 20 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

2 T. light whipped butter or spread

8 slices light bread, cut into cubes

1 apple, cored, peeled, and diced

4 ounces fat-free cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/4 cups light vanilla soymilk

1 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute

2 tablespoons sugar-free pancake syrup

1 Splenda packet

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Microwave butter until melted.

2.Spray 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish with nonstick spray. Place bread cubes evenly along the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle diced apple evenly over the bread.

3. In a medium-large bowl, combine melted butter, cream cheese, soymilk, egg substitute, 2 tablespoons syrup, cinnamon, and sweetener. Using a handheld electric mixer set to medium speed, mix until lump-free and smooth. Pour mixture over the bread and apple.

4. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes, until egg mixture is pretty firm and cooked through. Do not overcook, as bread could burn. Let cool and serve with extra syrup for dipping!