cinnamon roll french toast sticks

Cinnamon Roll French Toast Sticks: All the Roll, None of the Fuss

Name: Cinnamon Roll French Toast Sticks
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 27 min
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients: 10 slices of bread; 3 tbsp melted butter; 1/2 cup sugar; 3 tsp cinnamon; Syrup for dipping; 4 tbsp softened butter; 1/4 cup brown sugar; 2 tsp cinnamon

Bread gets flattened, filled, dipped and baked into crispy cinnamon-sugar sticks you can dunk in syrup like a kid on a Saturday morning.

Dowell CooksAugust 7, 20265 min read Print this post

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Golden cinnamon-sugar French toast sticks stacked and ready for dipping.

Crispy on the outside, cinnamon roll on the inside, dunked in syrup because that's the whole point.

Hey friends! If you love cinnamon rolls but do not love waiting an hour for dough to rise, this one's for you. We're taking regular sandwich bread, flattening it, filling it with a cinnamon-brown sugar swirl, and baking it into crispy little sticks you dunk in syrup. It's basically a cinnamon roll that got its act together for a weekday morning.

Overhead view of Bread, Butter, Sugar, Cinnamon, Syrup, Butter, Brown Sugar and Cinnamon arranged on a table — Bread, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and syrup laid out before rolling.

Mise en place

15 minutes, and you’re ready to cook.

Get everything measured and staged before the bread comes out, this one moves fast once you start.

Gather EquipmentGather a rolling pin, a small mixing bowl, a spoon or spatula for mixing, a shallow dish for dipping, a baking sheet, and parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Preheat the OvenPreheat your oven to 425°F.
Prepare the Filling Butter and Brown Sugar MixtureIn a small mixing bowl, combine ¼ cup softened butter, ¼ cup brown sugar, and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix thoroughly until fully combined and uniform. Set aside in the bowl.
Prepare the BreadTake all 10 slices of bread and use a rolling pin to flatten each slice until it's thin and pliable. Stack the flattened slices and set aside.
Measure the Cinnamon-Sugar Dipping MixtureIn a shallow dish, combine ½ cup sugar and 3 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix until evenly distributed. Set the dish aside near your work station.
Melt the Butter for DippingMelt 3 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan or microwave until fully liquid. Pour into a shallow dish and set near your work station for dipping.
Stage Ingredients and Prepare Baking SheetLine your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Arrange your work station with the flattened bread, the filling mixture, the melted butter dish, the cinnamon-sugar dish, and the prepared baking sheet in order of use. Have syrup ready for serving.

Active time~15 min · hands-on

Stirring butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon while preparing Cinnamon Roll French Toast Sticks — Rolling a flattened, filled slice of bread tight before pressing it seam side down.

Short on time? Make the filling and the cinnamon-sugar dip the night before and keep them covered on the counter or in the fridge. In the morning all you're doing is flattening bread, rolling, dipping and baking, which cuts your active time down to about ten minutes before the oven takes over.

Press the seam side down firmly on the baking sheet before it goes in the oven, and give the sticks a little breathing room, about an inch apart. That's the difference between sticks that hold their shape and crisp evenly, versus ones that pop open and go soft on one side.

Smart swaps

Substitutions that still taste like the recipe.

If your pantry's missing something, here's what to reach for instead.

bread

pita
Shares pyrazine compounds with bread
focaccia
Shares pyrazine compounds with bread

butter

clotted cream
Shares lactone compounds with butter
cream
Shares lactone compounds with butter

cinnamon

advieh
Shares terpene compounds with cinnamon
pumpkin spice
Shares terpene compounds with cinnamon

syrup

powdered sugar
Shares maillard compounds with syrup
piloncillo
Shares maillard compounds with syrup

brown sugar

jaggery
Shares ketone compounds with brown sugar
honey
Shares aldehyde compounds with brown sugar

Common questions

Can I make these ahead and reheat them?

Yes. Bake, cool completely, then store in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a 350°F oven for about five minutes to get the crisp back, the microwave will leave them soft.

Can I freeze cinnamon roll French toast sticks?

Freeze the baked and cooled sticks in a single layer, then bag them once solid. Reheat straight from frozen in the oven at 375°F for about ten minutes.

Why did my filling leak out during baking?

The seam wasn't sealed tight enough, or the sticks were placed seam side up. Press the seam firmly against the baking sheet before it goes in the oven.

Do I need to use an egg dip like regular French toast?

No egg here. These get their color and crisp from the butter dip and a hot oven, which keeps the inside from turning custardy.

That's it, that's the whole recipe. Ten slices of bread, a little butter and cinnamon sugar, twelve minutes in the oven, and you've got a breakfast that tastes like way more effort than it actually took. Make a batch this weekend and see who in your house notices they're basically eating cinnamon rolls in disguise. Browse all recipes for more like it.

The recipe

Cinnamon Roll French Toast Sticks

Serves 1027 minAmerican

The Quarterly

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