Hello all! Recently I found a tub of the most beautiful strawberries at the grocery store and I couldn't wait to bake with them.
The tub was two pounds, which is a lot, but I had ideas up my sleeve as to what to make with them! My first idea was a strawberry galette, which is a great summer dessert, but this post isn't about that. My second idea was to make a strawberry compote/jam concoction and use it on something. My pick was French toast, and it turned out so well (especially when I used my milk bread, recipe here)!
The compote was super simple, and the French toast came together within minutes. If you make the compote and bread ahead of time, this would be an amazing breakfast or brunch to whip up any day of the week. Let's get into it!
For the French toast, I made one serving but you could easily multiply it for more people to enjoy. You will need:
2 slices of bread (Milk bread is my favorite!)
1/4 tsp. of vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/2 cup milk or half and half
1 egg
A dash of cinnamon
1 tbsp butter (maybe a bit more if your pan gets dry in between cooking slices)
Start by combining the egg and milk in a bowl, I use a fork to get it mixed evenly and thoroughly. Then, add the rest of the ingredients and combine.
Let that sit for a second while you melt the butter in a medium saucepan. The sizzle you get when butter hits a hot pan is one of my favorite sounds!
Soak both sides of one slice of bread in the egg mixture, but not too long. You don't want to make your bread break apart. Drop it into the hot, buttered pan and brown both sides.
I set the slices to the side after they cook, and then cut them in half diagonally. I recently purchased a beautiful bamboo serving tray, so I don't have to plate everything on a cutting board when I do shoots any more! I used classic toppings for this French toast, butter, syrup, powdered sugar, and a dollop of homemade strawberry compote. I didn't photograph making the compote, since my strawberries decided to implode and were not very pretty anymore, but they were still perfectly tasty.
If you want to make the compote, I used
About 6 large strawberries
2 tbsp. of sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp. of water
Combine all the ingredients into a small pot and cook on medium heat. As it cooked, I used an avocado masher to break down the strawberries into smaller chunks. Keep stirring, and as it cooks, it needs to be reducing and thickening. When it's ready, the mixture will be sticking to the sides of the pot when you stir (but not stuck-stuck, we're not burning anything). Pour it into a container to cool, and then refrigerate! I made my batch the day before I made the French toast, but you could easily whip it up the day of and serve it warm.
To assemble my French toast, I layered my diagonally-cut slices of bread and then spread the butter on top. After that, I poured on some maple syrup, dusted on powdered sugar, and then topped with the strawberry compote. I'm a pretty big fan of breakfast food, but this dish turned out even better than I expected! The bread crisped up very nicely and the sweet toppings weren't too overwhelming. I love the red of the strawberries, they're a little tart but still sweet and add an awesome pop of color..
This would be a perfect breakfast for any special occasion, or even just making a ordinary day a little more special. If you test out this recipe, let me know how it goes!
Thanks for reading,
xx, Hannah