If a morning starts with french toast then it is a great one! We definitely had a great morning today thanks to this honey and vanilla brioche french toast recipe!
About this French Toast Recipe:
My family loves french toast but I usually only make brioche french toast on special occasions. Brioche bread makes a more decadent french toast and it, in my opinion, makes it a little more special.
Brioche bread is also the traditional bread the French use to make their Pain Perdu which is usually served as a dessert.
The inspiration for this French toast recipe came from a visit to a local restaurant. My family and I all went out for brunch and tried this amazing brioche french toast that was on the menu and that was my reminder to make this again at home.
What is brioche?
If you are not familiar with brioche, it is an enriched french bread with eggs and butter in the dough. It is part pastry and part bread.
You can usually find brioche in the bakery section of your grocery store. If you can't find it then Challah bread is a good choice (this bread looks like it was braided together) Challah is almost identical to brioche except it does not have butter in the dough. Either is fine!
You can also make your own brioche which is a really fun project! There is a really easy brioche recipe from a fellow blogger, Elle Jay at home that makes it really simple and walks you through all of the steps!
Here is what my brioche looked like before I sliced it up and cooked it.
About this honey custard mixture for this Brioche French toast:
The custard (egg mix) for this french toast is very simple. The addition of honey adds sweetness and an occasional pocket of honey on the cooked french toast! Getting a piece of French toast with that pocket of honey crusted on is my favorite part.
Do make sure all of your honey is used up from the custard mixture. It will want to stay behind so you need to help it along!
Good toppings for your brioche french toast-
- Any type of fresh berries
- Powdered sugar
- More honey
- fresh berry sauce
- homemade preserves
- Whipped Cream
- A mix of all of the above!
If you are looking for a special breakfast or a way to impress someone with something more than ordinary french toast then you should give this brioche french toast recipe a try! It is amazing! You also can make this just because and no special occasion is necessary.
Tips for keeping your Honey Brioche French Toast warm and crisp while you are making it in batches:
We all know that when making French toast or pancakes for that matter, it is a process of making them in batches, often going straight from the skillet on to someone's plate to eat right away.
I like to eat with all of us sitting down at the table at the same time enjoying our food together, not in batches so here are my tips to make this happen.
- Warm your oven to 170 degrees.
- Place an oven safe cooling rack on top of a large baking sheet and place in your warmed oven. This will warm the cooling rack itself.
- With each batch of French toast that you make, once they are done cooking on the stovetop, transfer them to the oven to sit on the cooling rack. That cooling rack prevents condensation from forming under the French toast (when the heat has nowhere to go).
- Do this until all of your french toast is made.
- I will bring the entire sheet pan with the cooling rack tot he table and serve it that way (like in the pictures above).
- You can also add them to a nice platter for serving.
I hope this helps and if you try out the French toast let me know!
For more breakfast inspiration:
- Yeast Belgium Waffles
- Prosciutto and Asparagus Fried Egg Toast
- Baked French Toast Casserole
- Herb Baked Eggs
- Vanilla and Cream Scones
- Blueberry and Vanilla Yogurt Scones
- Apple Pie Streusel Scones
- Fluffy Yogurt Biscuits
- Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies
Honey Vanilla Brioche French Toast
Ingredients
- 1 loaf of bricohe bread or challah
- 4 eggs
- ¼ milk
- ¼ honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- a pinch of salt
- fresh berries for topping optional
- warmed maple syrup for topping
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add your eggs, honey, milk, vanilla and salt and mix well until the honey is no longer clumpy.
- Next, slice up your brioche into 1 inch slices.
- Now, preheat a large heavy bottom skillet or griddle on medium low heat. Remember, French Toast is cooked low and slow. Be patient!
- Once it is pre-heated, add your butter and let it fully melt.
- Now take a brioche slice and place into your custard mixture gently pressing down until it is completely submerged. Now take it out flip it over and submerge it again in the custard until you don't see any bubbles coming up (for about 2 seconds).
- Lift your brioche slice out of the custard making sure to let the excess custard drip off and then place in your pan. Continue to add brioche into your pan until you can't add anymore (usually 3-4 slices depending on the size of your pan). Cook the brioche for about 4 minutes on the first side and then flip.
- Cook for a remaining 3-4 minutes on the other side or until it is nice and golden in color.
- Continue the steps above until all of the brioche is cooked.
- Once cooked, add to a plate and while still hot drizzle a little honey over the French Toast to warm the honey.
- Optional: top with your favorite toppings (butter, fresh berries, powdered sugar, ...)
- Enjoy
Siri says
The toasts are looking incredibly good!
Keeping It Simple says
Thanks so much!
Laura Scalone says
I've got a recipe for honey brioche, and this is the perfect recipe to turn it into really great French toast! Definitely linking to this recipe in my post! Soooo yummy!
Melissa says
I have to check out your recipe! It sounds amazing 🙂
Melissa says
This looks wonderful!