Sweet, Savory, and Satisfying French Toast Recipes

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Sweet and Savory French Toast Breakfast Sandwich

Course:

Breakfast, Brunch

Yield:

2 Servings

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. First, whisk together softened butter, honey, vanilla and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
3. Next, make the bacon lattice. Weave together 6 half slices of bacon on a baking sheet to form a lattice square.
4. Repeat with the remaining 6 half slices. Place an inverted baking rack over the top to keep it flat. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and reserve. Turn the oven down to 200 degrees f.
5. Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and salt in a shallow bowl or baking dish. Dip each bread slice into the mixture, soaking for a few seconds on each side.
6. Place a sauté pan over medium heat. Melt 1/2 tablespoon butter and cook 2 slices of the soaked brioche in the butter for 3 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining slices. Keep warm in the oven while you make the eggs.
7. Place a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the grated parmesan to the skillet in an even layer and cook for 2 minutes, until the cheese starts to melt and brown slightly. Crack two eggs over the top, and season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan with a lid and allow to steam for about 3, until the whites are just set but yolk is still runny.
8. Build the sandwich - spread some honey butter over one slice of French toast. Top with a bacon lattice and one Frico egg. Top with another slice of French toast and drizzle with maple syrup. Serve.

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Pumpkin Spice Banana Foster French Toast

Course:

Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert

Seasonal Event:

Fall

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat
2. Add butter and brown sugar and cook for about 2 min until butter has melted and mixed with the brown sugar
3. Add the sliced bananas and cook until the bananas are soft and lightly cooked, about 2 minutes
4. Carefully add the bourbon or rum and allow to flambé
5. Serve on top of the french toast and top with desired toppings

1. In a bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, and pumpkin spice.
2. Melt butter in a small pan or tabletop skillet with medium heat.
3. Dip each slice of toast one at a time into the eggs mixture for about 3 seconds per side and place in the pan.
4. Cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Flip and repeat.

• Condensed milk
• Dulce de leche
• Whipped cream
• Chocolate syrup
• White chocolate shavings
• Chocolate shavings
• Chopped strawberries

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Directions:
*If you are slicing your own loaf of brioche, freeze it overnight so it’s easier to cut into thin slices.

1. Make the Filling: In a small bowl, mix together the butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar to form a paste. Set aside.

2. Make the Batter In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the half & half, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, and a pinch of salt, until the brown sugar has dissolved. While whisking, drizzle in the melted butter until combined.

3. Assemble the French Toast Using three slices of brioche for each serving, put a thin layer of filling between the slices of brioche, then set aside. Repeat with remaining brioche slices, making sure to use up all of the filling amongst the bread.

4. Cook the French Toast Preheat a nonstick skillet over low heat. When the skillet is hot, gently submerge each stack of brioche into the batter so it absorbs some of the liquid, then carefully place onto the hot skillet.

5. (Depending on how big your skillet is, you may have to do this in batches. Simply keep the cooked batches warm in the oven.)

6. Cook each side for about 4-5 minutes, until golden brown. (This may seem like a long time, but the sugar and butter in the batter is prone to burning before the toast is done cooking, so the way to prevent this, while still getting a golden crust, is to cook it on low heat.)

7. Make the Icing In a large bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract, and half & half until smooth. It will be tough to combine at first, but keep mixing (and adding tiny amounts of half & half, if necessary) and it will come together. Drizzle over the French toast right before serving.

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1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. To prepare graham cracker crumble: combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar in a bowl and mix to blend. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of a small pie pan. Bake for 4 to 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool; crumble into pieces.
3. To prepare chocolate ganache: Bring heavy cream to a simmer, stirring occasionally; pour over chocolate chips and let stand for 10 minutes. Whisk until smooth and creamy. If making ahead, chocolate ganache can be reheated in microwave in 10 second increments until melted, stirring frequently.
4. To prepare French toast: combine eggs, half and half, and vanilla in a shallow bowl and whisk to blend. Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Dip bread slices in egg mixture; drain excess and griddle on each side for 3 minutes, or until golden.
5. Preheat broiler. Place marshmallows on baking sheet; run under broiler until puffy and lightly toasted.
6. To assemble each s’mores French toast sandwich: arrange 6 toasted marshmallows on 1 slice of warm French toast; drizzle warm chocolate ganache over marshmallows. Top with 1 slice of French toast, forming a sandwich. Top, as needed, with a drizzle of chocolate ganache, blueberries, maple syrup and graham cracker crumbles. Cut sandwich in half. Repeat with remaining s’mores French toast components to make additional sandwiches.

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Christmas Morning French Toast Casserole

Course:

Breakfast, Brunch

Seasonal Event:

Holidays, Christmas

1. To make the French toast, grease a 9" x 13" baking dish with the butter. Arrange the bread slices in the baking dish in two overlapping rows.
2. Whisk together the eggs, eggnog, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the bread slices, making sure the bread is well covered. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the baking dish from the refrigerator.
4. To make the topping, whisk together the butter, brown sugar, pecans, corn syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the bread.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove the casserole from the oven and decorate with the maraschino cherries in clusters of three to look like holly berries. Serve with maple syrup.

Cook's Note: It's best to use day-old bread, so the custard can really absorb. The casserole can be made the night before and refrigerated. Perfect for Christmas morning

1. Cut apricots in half and remove pits. Cut each half in quarters.

2. Add chopped apricots, honey, vanilla seeds and pod, orange zest, lemon juice, and water to a medium saucepan and stir to combine.

3. Cook mixture on medium-low heat until apricots begin to release their juices. Turn the heat up to medium simmer apricots, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and beginning to fall apart, about 10-15 minutes. Taste apricots and adjust sweetener if desired (depending on the season and farm, apricots might be tart or very sweet).

4. Remove vanilla bean pod and orange zest. Serve compote warm or cold.

1. Spray 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.

2. Cut bread into 4 – 6 slices, 1 ½ inches thick. The number of slices will depend on the size of the loaf. Cut a wide pocket into each slice by making a horizontal slit through the bottom. Be sure not to cut all the way through. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese with apricot compote until well mixed (using whisk or electric mixer). Distribute the filling evenly between each slice of bread, spreading about 1 tablespoon of the mixture into each piece. Add bread slices to baking dish and set aside.

4. In a medium bowl, beat eggs, half-and-half, sugar, vanilla, salt, and nutmeg until blended thoroughly. Pour egg mixture over bread slices in dish and lift up each slice so the bottom of every piece will absorb egg mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to one day.

5. Heat oven to 425 ̊. Uncover French toast and drizzle with melted butter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with extra apricot compote.

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Steps for French Toast

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter one or two baking dishes large enough to accommodate the bread in one layer. In a large, wide bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, nutmeg, salt, cinnamon, orange juice, and orange zest.

2. Heat a large, heavy, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat or preheat a griddle. Oe by one, dip the bread into the egg mixture, turning it and making sure it's completely saturated. Carefully dip the slices into the ground pistachios, coating them evenly on both sides.

3. Add the oil to the pan and wipe with a paper towel. Carefully transfer as many pistachio-coated slices as will fit in the pan without crowding. Brown on each side, about 2 minutes per side, and transfer to the baking dish. Place the baking dish in the oven and bake 5-8 minutes.

4. To serve, cut each slice diagonally in half and arrange the triangles on heated serving plates. Spoon powdered sugar into a fine-mesh sieve and tap the sieve over each serving to dust it attractively with sugar (optional). Serve hot with pomegranate compote.

Steps for Pomegranate Compote

Total time Several hours to overnight
Serves 12
Serving size 1/12^th of the recipe
Course Breakfast, brunch, dessert

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place bread on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes or until it’s lightly toasted on the outside, but still very soft on the inside. Lightly butter a 13 X 9-inch baking dish.

2. Whisk together milk, sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon and eggs in a large bowl. Dip each bread slice into mixture and let soak for about 15 seconds on each side. Place in prepared baking dish, overlapping slices slightly if necessary. Pour any remaining egg mixture over the top. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until it’s golden brown and somewhat firm to the touch. Serve immediately.

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Preheat an electric griddle to 350 degrees (a non-stick skillet set over medium heat also works fine). In a mixing bowl whisk together milk, sweet potato puree, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon until well combined. Pour into a shallow dish.
Butter griddle and dip bread into egg mixture (allowing a few seconds for it to absorb mixture. I also squeeze gently to soak the mixture to center), then rotate and coat opposite side. Transfer to griddle and cook until golden brown on bottom, then lift, butter griddle once more and flip French toast to opposite side and cook until golden brown. Serve warm with butter and maple syrup.

Bring first 7 ingredients to a boil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10-12 minutes. Remove cloves with a slotted spoon, and discard.
Add cranberries; increase heat to medium, and bring to a boil. Boil, stirring occasionally, 3 to 5 minutes or just until cranberries begins to blossom. Stir in apricots and orange or lemon zest; remove from heat. Cool completely. Serve immediately, or chill up to 2 days. Stir in pecans just before serving.

Position 1 rack in top third of oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Line large rimmed baking sheet with foil. Place large rack on lined baking sheet. Arranged bacon slices in single layer on rack. Whisk brown sugar and butter. Brush bacon with sugar and butter blend. Bake until bacon is crisp and glazed, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool 5 minutes and serve.

1. Grease a 9×13 baking dish and set aside
2. In a small saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter.
3. Add brown sugar and maple syrup and stir until sugar is completely dissolved.  Pour mixture into baking dish.  Arrange bread slices as close together as possible, in one layer, in the baking dish.  Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk eggs by hand until fluffy- about 1 minute.  Add half and half, vanilla, orange liquor, cinnamon and salt and whisk until all is evenly combined.
5. Pour egg mixture evenly over the bread slices.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill overnight (or for at least 6 hours.)
6. When ready to bake, remove from refrigerator and bring to room temperature- 30 minutes to an hour.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Bake for about 35 minutes until the French toast looks lightly golden brown and is cooked all the way through.
8. Serve immediately, nice and hot.
9. When scooping out a serving, flip bread slice over and serve “bottom-side-up” onto plate. This way, the brown sugar/butter coating is now on top. (Hence the “crème brûlée” topping!)
10. Accompany French toast with toppings of your choice.

Note: I like to make this with all kinds of breads and I think it comes out a little different with each one.  Here you can see two versions I’ve made— the first one is CHALLAH BREAD and the is FRENCH BREAD slices.

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put stick of butter in a 9x13 baking dish and melt the butter in the oven. Remove baking dish from oven. (Alternatively, pour melted butter into baking dish.) Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. Place one layer of bread slices on bottom of baking dish, on top of melted butter (you can break up bread with your hands to cover the bottom). Sprinkle half of sugar/cinnamon mix over top. Place a second layer of bread slices on top. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk and pour mixture into the baking dish, evenly over the bread slices. (If you have a four-cup liquid measuring cup, you can whisk the eggs and milk right in there, and save cleaning up an extra bowl.) Sprinkle the remaining sugar/cinnamon over the top of the bread, and sprinkle salt over all. Cover with foil.
2. At this point, you can refrigerate the casserole overnight and bake it in the morning, so everyone can eat breakfast together. Or you can pop it right in the oven. Either way, bake the casserole, covered with foil, in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes and serve. No need for syrup!

1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and cook over low heat until the cranberries pop and sauce thickens. Allow to cool. Can make ahead and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Also great with turkey!

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Preheat oven to 375. Mix together milk through ground cinnamon. Dip Texas toast one piece at a time into the egg cream mix then place into the cereal to coat both sides and edges. Set aside and prepare all pieces of bread. Place nonstick pan on burner over medium high heat. Melt butter in nonstick pan. and when it begins to bubble, gently place the pieces of the coated french toast into the pan for about 2 - 3 minutes, watch to make sure the sugar in the cereal doesn't begin to burn. Turn over to cook the other side, then place cooked pieces onto rack on jelly roll pan. When all pieces have been cooked in the pan, then place jelly roll pan in the preheated oven for about 5-7 minutes to finish the cooking process. Remove, top with raspberry butter and serve immediately.

Place butter and raspberries into a food processor to blend, refrigerate

Place water and sugar in pot over medium high heat. Stir to dissolve sugar, then scrape the vanilla beans and pod into the sugar water mix, bring to a boil and then reduce and simmer for 1 hour. Cool down, place into a container with a lid and refrigerate.

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Bananas Foster French Toast

Course:

Breakfast, Brunch, French Toast

Yield:

4 Servings

1. To make the french toast, in a medium bowl, whisk to blend the eggs, then whisk in the half and half and cinnamon. Pour the mixture into a flat rimmed tray (a rimmed half sheet pan is great) to soak the bread slices all at once. Soak the challah slices in the mixture for 30-60 seconds on each side, until all the custard has been absorbed.
2. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat and melt about a tablespoon of butter, or enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the soaked challah in a single layer and cook for about 2 minutes on each side, until golden.
3. To make the bananas foster, in a skillet set over medium heat, add the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cook and stir until the butter is melted, a couple minutes.
4. Peel and slice the bananas into ½” thick pieces. Add to the skillet and cook for 3 minutes on the first side, or until the bananas are golden on the bottom. Flip all the banana slices and cook for two minutes on the other side, until soft.
5. Remove the pan from the heat and add the rum. Return the pan to the stove and tilt to catch the flame and let the alcohol burn***. Once the flame burns out, the sauce is done.
6. Serve the french toast with the bananas and spoon the extra sauce over the top. Enjoy!

2. Pour into a large baking pan and soak bread slices in 1 layer, turning once, 8 minutes.

3. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet or griddle over moderately high heat until foam subsides.

4. Transfer 4 soaked bread slices to skillet with a slotted spatula and cook until golden brown, about 1 minute on each side.

5. Cook remaining bread in 2 batches, adding more butter as needed.

6. Serve French toast with maple syrup.

7. Garnish French toast with confectioners sugar.

1. Spread Nutella on one side of each piece of bread
2. Dip each piece of bread in Egg Wash, drip off excess and lay in corn flakes on one side and then flip to the opposite side, pressing gently
3. Add oil to a preheated nonstick pan over med-high heat and brown both sides

1. In a preheated nonstick pan on high, sauté
2. Add rum and Flambé until alcohol has evaporated
3. Add butter to finish

*Make sure your brioche is about 2 days old.

Stale bread helps make the French Toast less soggy

1. Whisk together the vanilla bean, cream, sugar, yolks and all of the spices.
2. Let you brioche sit in the mixture for about 3 minutes.
3. Remove brioche and shake off the excess.
4. Set it into a pan with a bit of melted butter and cook until golden brown.
5. Serve it immediately with the mascarpone, a bit of maple syrup and sprinkle the chia seeds on top.