Baked Stuffed Apple French Toast

Rob loves the apple slice they sell at Trackside Bakery near the train station in Perth. Everytime we walked past the area, Rob would hurry over to salivate at their pastry selections, and would ask if we could buy something or another. The other day, we walked past the bakery and Rob wanted an apple slice, but we were in a hurry to catch a train so he didn't manage to score one. I consoled him by saying that it's a simple thing to make - it's basically stewed apple slapped between two thick layers of pastry - and that I'd make it for him at home. So the next time we went to the markets to do our weekly fresh fruit and veges shopping, we bought lots of Granny Smith apples. I even looked on the internet for recipes on how to make the pastry, and then realised that I do not have the very basic tool for dough-making: a rolling pin. Sigh. I was still determined to use the GS apples for a baked dish (coz they are so yummy baked!) but refused to do the usual apple crumble because 1) we always use our GS apples that way and 2) we did not have rolled oats in the pantry. (I like to use what we have in the pantry without having to go out of our way to buy ingredients we don't use often - also means that the recipe would be simple and healthy.) I wanted to take the opportunity to try something different, but relatively healthy and simple to make.

The thought of using bread instead of pastry occured to me. Googled for apple + bread recipes for inspiration, and came across recipes for apple and french toast baked in the oven. The recipes I looked at all suggested putting the bread slices on top of the apple pieces in a dish and pouring an egg mix of some sort over the whole thing and 'marinated' overnight in the fridge before baking. I didn't quite like the idea of having an omelette-type apple stuffing, so I varied the recipe (as below) to suit my taste. You can of course use your intuition on what would work with the egg mix (eg vanilla essence - which I forgot to use) and the apple stuffing (eg adding nutmeg or mixed spice if you have them handy). You can use whatever bread you like - I used wholemeal bread.

Ingredients:

4 Granny Smith Apples
8-9 slices of bread
3-4 eggs
1/4cup Milk
2tbsp brown sugar
1tbsp water
1 quill of cinammon

Method:

Peel, core and slice apples into 1cm thick slices. Heat a pan on medium heat, place apples and water, sugar and cinammon quill in it and cook for five minutes or until apples are tender but not mushy.

Break the eggs in a bowl, and mix with milk. Dunk slices of bread in the egg mix (or you can soak the bread in the egg mix - depends on how soaked and soggy you like your french toast), and place one layer of the dipped bread on the bottom of a rectangular ovenproof dish. Drain the cooked apples and place on top of the first layer of bread, then place the remaining slices of bread (dipped first in the egg mix) on top of the apples. Pour any remaining egg mix over the bread, and if you are preparing this the night before, cover the oven dish and refrigerate.

Wake up leisurely the next day, preheat oven to 180degC, take out what you prepared the night before and uncover the oven dish. Sprinkle the top layer with a little castor sugar if desired and place in the oven for 40-50minutes. Serve hot with honey, cream, icecream or other fruits if you want. Will serve 2 to 4 people, depending on the appetite.