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Cinnamon “French Toast” Flat-bread (Nut-Free)

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This is the recipe that replaced the last bit of gluten-free grains in my 5-year old’s diet.  YAY!!!!  (Incidentally, it was the waffle recipe out of Eat Like a Dinosaur that did the trick for my 2-year old.)  My daughter loves these and eats them every morning for breakfast.  The goal with this recipe (besides developing something with protein it that satisfies my 5-year old’s very sensitive palate) was to create a healthy and portable version of French toast, without the work of first making Paleo bread, then soaking in eggs, then frying.  I was inspired by those frozen toaster French toasts that were at one point a staple for us (so embarrassing to admit).  Borrowing the technique from sponge cake recipes, this flat-bread ends up with a consistency that is surprisingly similar to French toast.  They are also sweet enough to eat plain, are delicious warm or cold, and hold together well enough that they could be eaten in the car on the way to work or to school.  They also happen to be nut-free!

Cinnamon French Toast Flat Bread

Ingredients:

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1.    Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a 9”x13” baking dish with wax paper.  If helps to grease the wax paper with palm shortening, but isn’t completely necessary (I usually don’t bother).
2.    Using a standing mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form (you can also do this with a hand mixer or even by hand if you prefer).
3.    In a small bowl, combine egg yolks, maple syrup, cinnamon, coconut milk, and arrowroot powder.
4.    Gently pour the yolk mixture onto the egg whites.  Add about half of the sifted coconut flour.  Gently fold the mixtures together.  As they start to combine, add the rest of the sifted coconut flour.  Fold until fully combined.
5.    Pour batter into prepared baking dish and spread out evenly.  Dust with extra cinnamon, if desired.  Bake for 18 minutes, until golden brown and spongy to the touch.
6.    Very shortly after removing from the oven, lift the flat-bread out of the pan (using the sides of the wax paper, or just flip the whole thing over onto a cutting board).  Carefully peel the wax paper off the bottom.  Slice into squares and enjoy warm or refrigerate for later.

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Comments

  1. I am not a stalker, but I am in love with you. I have been searching for a fun Amusement park food that will make my family shut up about churros and funnel cakes. You just gave it to me. Seriously, I love you, and so does my husband. My kids do not know it yet, but they will have the BEST snacks ever at the park tomorrow. And healthy breakfasts too.

  5. Parchment paper or wax paper will work. Wax paper is safe to use as long as the temperature is low enough that it doesn’t go brown.

    The maple syrup is for flavor only. All of the rise comes from the beaten egg whites. You could substitute a sugar free syrup or honey or water or almond milk or any combination of those. I’m not sure what substituting with a high fat liquid would do to the texture, so I would avoid substituting with more coconut milk.

    • The arrowroot flour gives a much spongier texture, more reminiscent of french toast, but I did try a version of this with almond flour first. For that version, I reduced the coconut flour to 1/4 cup and used 1/2 cup almond flour. It’s a bit more mealy and a little more crumbly but it would still qualify as portable. And it was definitely still tasty. This is a good option for anyone worried about the carbohydrate content from the arrowroot flour.

  12. Yum! The kids and I just made this (had to substitute the coconut milk). It’s almost gone! Had to give the kids more maple syrup for dipping. [hangs head in shame] Thank you so much for experimenting and posting all these great recipes. You’re awesome!

  15. Yummo! Everyone had some for breakfast this morning. The kids loved it and announced they want it everyday. Hubby liked it but would rather only have it occasionally. The last slice is being dipped in my pumpkin soup…I really missed having toast to dip, and the flavour combination of this bread with the soup more than compensates! Thanks for an awesome recipe!

    PS, my tin of arrowroot flour has tapioca in (), so maybe they’re the same thing?

  16. Soooooo excited to try this and more excited to have found you…I am Paleo but my son, although gluten free, is not…yet!! We don’t do nuts, besides coconut, and it is so hard to find a Clean recipe w/o nuts. So thamks soooooooo much.

    Question…do ou think these would freeze well? My sons new school does not support his GFness moreso Paleo so I will have to send breakfast, lunch and snack everyday. Trying to prep meals in advance if possible.

    Again…you rock!!

    • Thank you!!!! These travel super well so they are a great breakfast/snack to pack for school. I keep mine in a plastic container in the fridge for up to a week. I haven’t tried freezing them (because we go through them so quickly!), but I think they would freeze well.

  17. Hi!
    First, I have to say I just love your website. I found it because you were featured in WW! Congratulations to you. I will be following your site, you have so much great information! I will be trying this recipe for my children 🙂

  21. Finally made this. YUM! Kids reached for seconds and thirds. And now I see the cocoa powder option. Oh the possibilities. Thanks so much for all your experimental baking successes.

    • I haven’t tried, but I think it would freeze well. I will be freezing some next week in anticipation of having no kitchen for 5 days (to repair floors after water damage). If you don’t try it before I do, I will definitely let you know how it goes!

  23. Hi, I love your website. Thanks so much for all the great information. I am going to try this recipe TODAY! one question though, I am making it for my niece who has a sensitivity to egg yolks. Any substitution ideas for the yolks (the whites are fine)…
    Thanks so much!
    Susan

  24. Any suggestions for substitute for coconut flour? My son is allergic to coconut (you’re probably tired of me since I’m always asking about coconut subs). If I do all almond flour do you think it will fall apart too easily?

    • I would try 1 cup of almond flour as a first try (maybe 1 1/4 cup). I think there’s enough egg to hold it all together. Let me know how it works! Also, whatever you sub for the coconut milk, make sure you add some fat (so if you use almond milk, add a couple of Tbsp of your favorite oil too).

  26. Finally got around to making this- it is awesome! My picky 4 year old even liked it! One thing- the wax paper pulled off a layer when I took it off, so next time I’ll probably use parchment paper and grease it with some coconut oil.

  27. my kids love this recipe but are not fond of the bread recipes 🙁 i was thinking of baking this recipe in a loaf pan and slicing it like a regular bread loaf. (they really just have jelly sandwiches anyway so the sweetness wouldn’t matter.) thoughts on whether this is a good idea? could you recommend a time and temperature to cook it this way? thanks so much!!

    • I have never thought to try it. The recipe is similar to a sponge cake recipe which is always done on a jelly roll sheet. You might have better luck spreading it out over a jelly roll sheet (or even two) and then slicing squares to use as bread.

  28. I made this for my kids yesterday and it was a huge hit! We called it French Toast Cake and they were so thrilled that I was giving them cake for breakfast. Thank you for a great family friendly recipe with much less sugar than their typical Sunday morning breakfast!

  31. in the last day I have made the french toast bread recipe, the chewy granola bars and the yeast no nut bread in my bread maker. All the recipes turned out great and were delicious! thank you!

  34. Thank you for this beautiful recipe! I have a question I hope you can answer. I made this bread this morning and the bottom layer of the bread is too eggy almost like a custard. THis layer is visable too. The picture your posted does not appear to have this problem. It’s not terribly bad, but, it’s not exactly a pleasant consistency either. Other than that, the bread is fabulous! Can you help me figure out what I did wrong?

  35. Do you think this could be made without the arrowroot powder? I am strictly SCD and it is always a challenge for me to stick to it when making fun stuff for the kids that I cannot eat. Plus it is just that much more work to have to make different meals for us all. I try very hard not to do that. Thank you?

  37. I’ve made this twice now and REALLY love it! My three year old devours this as well. What a fantastic recipe! My only question is, mine doesn’t look like your picture. It comes out in a layered look; three layers actually. Kind of strange, but at least it still tastes great. Thoughts?

  38. This recipe is absolutely amazing. I have been having trouble converting my 3.5yo daughter to Paleo. All fine with our 18 month old, but the eldest one has been hanging on to gluten free oat porridge for breakfast. Now I have something to give her, with sliced up fruit it will go down a treat! Thank you very very very much!

  41. We don’t have any coconut milk. Is there perhaps some combination of unrefined coconut oil, water, and/or extra coconut flour that would work as a substitute?

  42. I made this recipe and I too had the bottom layer of the bread cook up to eggy almost like a custard. This layer is visable with the egg layer and the bread topping. Taste was great, but i don’t know what might have caused that texture? Can you help ?

  47. These are great! My problem is I am your classic must read the recipe but read it too fast and skip important step. Like I’ve already done the eggs whites so when I start reading the next part and it says mix yadayadayada infigure that just means everything. So I keep reading and see “add coconut flour”, which ofcourse I already have in there. Oops. So mine seprated in that egg layer that others posted about. Maybe that’s why? Also, I’m not sure when to stop folding. Should there be floaty chunks of eggwhite drifting around or get rid of all that? Anyway, it’s still yummy.

      • I tried this again. Put a bit of egg white into egg yolk mixture and folded that in then put egg yolk mixture into eggs white being very patient about folding it in. Swapped out 1/4 c of maple syrup for honey. Worked wonderfully! Took longer to make it than the family took to eat it. Also did a version of swapping coconut flour for buckwheat flour. I have a son who is stubborn hanger on who would rather eat a loaf of toast than go Paleo. Thought that was a better option. He ate half he recipe in one sitting! Thanks so much!

    • In my experience, the edges touching the pan will bubble up during baking while the center will be dense and pretty like in the photo. You might try rotating it in the oven two or three times during cooking if your oven has uneven heating. – Christina, Sarah’s assistant

  50. I’m going to try t his for Sunday Breakfast! I’m trying to slowly ease the grains out of my children’s diet. I have to be sneaky because the last time I tried, I was up front about it and there was some serious mutiny. I’m hoping that as I add all these yummy bread substitutes to their diets, they won’t notice the grain based breads that are being excluded 🙂

    • Melissa, your new approach worked for me. I have three (10, 8 & 8) that have either nut based granola with coconut yogurt or pumpkin pancakes or ‘breakfast breads’ like this one with fruit every school day morning. All these things are so much yummier than gf bread and cornflakes it wasn’t too hard to win them over. Good luck!

  52. Hi, I’ve made this a couple of times, following the recipe, and it looks nothing like yours. It tastes delicious, but it’s really rubbery in texture. I’ve tried stabilising the egg whites with some cream of tartar but the end result has been the same. Can you please tell me what size eggs you’re using? Mine are 800g so I wonder if there’s just too much liquid? Any advice you can give me would be great. Thanks!

      • Thanks for coming back to me, I really appreciate it. I’ve checked he ingredients of the coconut milk and there’s no guar gum in it at all. Just coconut extract, water and citric acid. It’s a mystery! 🙂

  54. I LOVE This recipe. I just wanted to pass on that the last time I made it I didn’t have any coconut milk, so I shredded about two cups of apple and used that instead. It worked amazingly well and turned into delicious apple cinnamon breakfast squares.

  57. Wax paper in the oven? I would have that parchment paper since wax paper can burn in an oven. The recipe sounds great and I have all the ingredients think I will try this soon 🙂

    • I have used wax paper for jelly rolls for years. This is a form of jelly roll. I use regular brown paper bags dipped in butter for Xmas cakes, if the wax paper is burning in your oven at 350F for under an hour, I suggest that your oven needs someone to look at it.

  61. I also love this recipe, but again it looks nothing like your picture. Mine seems to separate into two layers with the bottom one rubbery. Is there a trick to how you mixed/folded the ingredients together?

  63. I would like to take it to the next level and brown the pieces in a skillet! I’m not full on Paleo just GF, not sure if ghee is allowed but that would be heaven!

  66. Made this this morning and it was very good. I did have the “two layers” that other readers have mentioned…though I suspect I did not mix it quite well enough. I think it would be really yummy with chopped apples mixed in but I wonder if they would be too “heavy” for the recipe. Do you think that would work? Just curious. Thanks for a delicious breakfast!
    PS: We got about 4 servings out of this because my 3 children ate the WHOLE PAN! 🙂 Next time I guess I will have to make more!

  67. I made this for breakfast and then at lunch cut a slice in half to use as bread. I used daiya dairy free cheese and a pannini maker for a delicious grilled cheese sandwich. 2 hours later I checked and am still in mod ketosis. It was heavenly to feel like I ate bread and it didn’t pull me out of ketosis! Thank you!

  68. Turned out great for me! Thank you!
    I’m wondering if parchment paper would work, or just greasing the pan. I hate leaving so much of the batter stuck to the waxed paper.

  69. Love it came out exact. I didn’t have wax paper or a 9x13pan so I greased a 9×9 Pyrex pan with coconut oil and used a fish spatula to pop it out. The edge were messy but the kids didn’t care.

  70. Delicious! I used a glass pan (reduced oven temp by 25 degrees) greased with palm oil, no wax paper.

    Today I made a variation – left out cinnamon, added 1 tablespoon vanilla. Sprinkled 1 cup blueberries (previously frozen then thawed in fridge overnight) on top of the batter before baking.

    I’ve been whisking together all the ingredients except the egg whites and letting them sit while the egg whites whip to stiff peaks because I heard a radio program that said the gf flours need more time to absorb moisture. That seems to work really well.

    I’m going to try some other fruit/spice combinations

    Anyone know how long these will keep in the fridge and do they freeze well?

  71. Made this today as written, and had a similar experience to others: rubbery, eggy bottom. The very top of the bread looked like your photo, but about 3/4 was rubbery. They’re still edible, but not quite what I was envisioning. Could it be over baking? I used a 9×9 Pyrex, and had to add 10 minutes, since at the 18 minute mark the inside batter was still very liquid and not “spongy.” Could you maybe ask a friend to test out your recipes? I feel there are still many technical issues that prevent these recipes from being consistent. It’s frustrating, since these ingredients aren’t cheap!

    • It’s probably your coconut flour. I had the same problem once when I made it with homemade coconut flour that wasn’t as finely ground as what I normally buy. You can compensate by adding a bit more.

  76. I’ve made this twice now both times it came out perfect. The first time I needed it to travel so baked in waxed little baking pans so reduced baking time to 16 min. They came right out of the pans. The second time did the large pan and waxed paper. It stuck to the waxed paper so might try parchment or no liner next time because there will be lots of next times!

  77. I really wish you would take the time to go in and edit all your recipes that suggest baking with WAX PAPER (which is toxic to eat after it melts into your food) to read PARCHMENT PAPER. I ruined a great (not to mention expensive recipe because I noticed how consistently you use this and just took your word for it as it is so prevalent and you published a cook book which I am now reluctant to buy because there is a HUGE difference between WAX paper and Parchment.
    That and the frequently occurring and consistent grammatical errors that keep getting re-posted have started to turn me away from the blog and the web site. Sad… attention to detail is so important.

  78. We love this recipie, I’ve made it quite a few times (even for breakfast guests) and it’s always gobbled up, today I converted it to making in my Thermomix, and it’s gone from being a bit fidderly and time consuming to being a quick easy job. Thankyou so much xxx (would it be ok if I put the Tmx version up on the Recipie community site, with full reference is: Adapted from thePaleomom.com)

  79. Ours separated into two layers – top crumbly and airy, bottom dense almost like custard. We also had to bake it MUCH longer than the recipe stated, as it was so soupy, jiggly, and then mushy each time we tried to take it out. We are in Florida if that makes a difference due to humidity, and we baked it in a glass pan. The only direction from the recipe we altered was that we misread and folded the egg whites into the yolk mixture instead of pouring the yolk mixture into the whites, but since we made sure it was fully combined before pouring it into the dish, I can’t imagine that to be the cause – is it?
    Here are two links to what it looks like (out of pan and then in-pan): https://www.dropbox.com/s/ikkyzco5ppn7peo/PaleoMom_CinnFrToast-5290.jpg?dl=0
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/ji1rcst7yidrscc/PaleoMom_CinnFrToast-5292.jpg?dl=0

  80. I made this tonight and it turned out great! After baking for 20 minutes, I let sit and turned over and discovered the middle was totally uncooked. I cooked for 5 more minutes. I made 5/8 recipe (because I only had 5 eggs) and so estimated with the measurements and it still turned out well. It is very lightly sweetened. My picky 12 year old daughter even likes it! It DOES has the taste and texture of real French toast! This is a great recipe!

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