Cinnamon Roll French Toast Bake

Cinnamon Rolls meet French Toast in this easy and crowd-pleasing baked French Toast casserole, with only 10 minutes of prep time!

Happy Monday! How about a delicious mash up of cinnamon rolls and French Toast to start your week?!

This is an easy recipe to whip up for the weekend or week for that matter, as you can easily reheat servings in the microwave. Serve and enjoy as you would French toast with syrup, powdered sugar, or whip up some extra cream cheese glaze.

The original recipe comes from Pillsbury. I used two cans of Grands! Cinnamon Rolls but this recipe is very forgiving. Use regular size cinnamon rolls if that’s what you have or if you can’t find Grands.

Start by removing and separating your rolls. Set aside the icing from the cans and cut each roll into 6 – 8 pieces.

I’ve made this recipe a couple of times, one version, with a layer of fruit on the bottom. I used peaches I had in the freezer and added some blueberries on the bottom of the baking dish.

Make this with fruit or without, it’s equally good! If you choose to add fruit, keep it in a single layer on the bottom of a 9 x 13 (3 quart) dish.

Add your pieces of cinnamon rolls to the baking dish, topping your fruit if using.

  Mix up your egg mixture and pour over.

The egg mixture has half and half, cinnamon, vanilla, a little sugar and a pinch of salt.

I made a couple of changes from the original recipe; one was substituting half and half for heavy cream. The other change was omitting a cup of syrup in the egg mixture. We thought it was plenty sweet and with the icing on top and you can adjust more easily to your sweet tooth, serving it with extra icing (recipe here) and / or syrup and powdered sugar. Substitute 2% milk or almond milk for the half and half if you prefer.

Using room temperature eggs insures the egg mixture bakes through and sets in the center. An easy method bring cold eggs to room temperature is to put them in a bowl and cover them with warm tap water. Allow them to sit 5 – 10 minutes while you’re cutting your cinnamon rolls and the oven is preheating. Bake at 375 degrees until golden and egg mixture is set.

Test for doneness with tip of knife in center of casserole to make sure no liquid remains. Cover top of casserole with foil during last minutes of baking time to prevent overbrowning if needed to allow the center to cook through.

Remove from the oven and let cool about 15 minutes. Remove covers from the cinnamon roll icing and microwave on medium (50%) power for 10 to 15 seconds or until icing is thin enough to drizzle.

If you’re a fan of nuts with your cinnamon rolls, add a 1 cup of chopped pecans to the top of the cinnamon roll layer before baking.

Print Recipe

Cinnamon Roll French Toast Bake

Cinnamon rolls meet French Toast in this easy and crowd-pleasing casserole, for breakfast or brunch, with only 10 minutes of prep time!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: brunch, cinnamon rolls, easy, French Toast casserole

Servings: 12 servings

Equipment

• 9×13-inch or 3 quart baking dish

Ingredients

• 2 cans Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls with Icing - (17.5oz/5ct)
• 6 large eggs room temperature
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• Icing from cinnamon rolls
• Optional: Chopped pecans Powdered sugar, maple syrup, if desired

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) baking dish with nonstick spray.
• Separate cans of dough into rolls; set icing aside. Cut each roll into 6 – 8 pieces; place pieces in dish.
• In medium bowl, beat eggs. Add half and half, cinnamon, sugar, vanilla and pinch of salt until well blended; gently pour over roll pieces.
• Sprinkle with chopped pecans if desired.
• Bake 25 - 30 minutes or until golden brown and egg mixture is set. Cool 15 minutes.
• Remove covers from icing; microwave on medium (50%) 10 to 15 seconds or until thin enough to drizzle.
• Drizzle icing over top. Serve with the additional maple syrup if desired.

Notes

• Using room temperature eggs insures egg mixture cooks and sets in center.An easy method bring cold eggs to room temperature is to put them in a bowl and cover them with warm tap water. Allow them to sit 5 – 10 minutes.
• Test for doneness with tip of knife in center of casserole. Cover top of casserole with foil during last minutes of baking time to prevent overbrowning and allow center to cook through if needed.
• Variations:
• Add 1 cup chopped pecans to top of cinnamon roll mix before baking.
• Add 3 – 4 cups fruit to bottom of baking dish, keeping fruit in a single layer (I used cut peaches and blueberries) before adding cut rolls.
• Original recipe calls for 1 cup syrup in egg mixture but we found it sweet enough with the icing. I added 3 tablespoons of sugar to the eggs mixture. Adjust to your sweet tooth.
• Recipe can be easily halved for smaller crowd and baked in 9 x 9 pan.
• Original recipe calls for heavy cream. I used half and half but feel free to substitute almond milk or 2% milk if desired.
• Mix up more cream cheese glaze to serve and supplement cinnamon roll icing if desired.

If you choose to mix up extra cream cheese glaze to supplement the icing from the cinnamon rolls, add some to the top of the French toast while warm and keep the rest refrigerated. Heat extra glaze briefly on medium power in the microwave to loosen and drizzle on individual servings.

Enjoy!

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