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Today’s the Friday before Labour Day weekend and therefore the perfect time to post this new recipe to the blog! This week’s recipe is for a super indulgent breakfast dish that the whole family can enjoy. My Challah French toast with grilled nectarines and plums is a real treat. And since it’s a long weekend, you’ll technically have one more day to burn off all the calories from eating it, haha! Or just treat yourself without guilt – trust me, you’ll loaf this one!

Pouring raspberry syrup on top of challah french toast

The inspiration for this recipe actually came from leftovers in my fridge! If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen that my husband and I went on a little beach picnic last weekend. We had some leftover nectarines and plums from our picnic that I wanted to use up, as well as some leftover blueberries and raspberries that had been kicking around in our fridge. I also had a bottle of raspberry maple syrup from my visit to Barrie Hill Farms that I wanted to incorporate somehow into one of my recipes. So, I thought French toast topped with blueberries and raspberries and served with grilled nectarines and plums would be a winner!

Since it’s just my husband and me at home and our schedule is always different from week to week, a lot of the food in our fridge unfortunately goes to waste. I’ve been making a conscious effort lately to buy only what we need and use up what we have. After preparing this recipe this week for the blog, I had so many leftovers that I ended up inviting a friend over for dinner (she ate this for dessert), giving some to my next door neighbours, and I also gave some away to the hungry in my neighbourhood.

Delicious challah french toast with grilled nectarines and plums

There are a few different ways you can make this dish. You can either serve the grilled nectarines and plums (grilled peaches would work too) on top of the French toast or on the side.

Grilled nectarines and plums with feta cheese and fig glaze

As a side, I topped the grilled fruit with crumbled feta cheese and drizzled with a fig glaze. The French toast could be served in individual slices or as a stack, using mascarpone cheese in between each layer.

Stack of challah french toast

What Kind of Bread to Use?

When making French toast, probably the most important consideration is which bread to use. You want a bread that is very sturdy and spongy. I’ve tried regular white bread in the past, which just seemed to fall apart. Brioche is one of the most popular choices and actually what I originally planned to use. But when I went to the market, none of the bakeries had any Brioche. I used Challah as a substitute, which I figured would be kosher to do 😉 . As a rich, eggy yeast bread, Challah is very similar to Brioche. The only difference is that Challah is not made with butter, but that has no impact on this recipe. Another trick is to use day old bread, which will be even stronger than fresh bread. Lastly, if you can buy the bread as a loaf, it will be even better, so you can cut it yourself and control the thickness of each slice. I recommend cutting about double the size of regular white bread slices.

Here is the recipe.

Challah French Toast with Grilled Nectarines and Plums

An indulgent breakfast you can make in less than 30 minutes that the whole family can enjoy. The addition of grilled fruit makes the dish even more flavourful!
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Cuisine Breakfast
Servings 6 people

Ingredients
  

  • 1 loaf Challah bread You could also use Brioche
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
  • Feta cheese crumbled
  • 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. sea or kosher salt
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 4 nectarines halved and pitted
  • 4 plums halved and pitted
  • butter
  • brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup blueberries
  • 1/2 cup raspberries
  • powdered sugar
  • regular or flavoured maple syrup
  • fig glaze

Instructions
 

  • Cut the Challah bread into slices about 3/4 inch thick.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs, milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and vanilla extract together to form batter.
  • Cut the nectarines and plums in half and remove the pits. Sprinkle brown sugar on top of the fruit before grilling.
  • Add 1 tbsp. of butter to a cast iron skillet and heat over medium-high heat.
  • Soak each slice of bread in the batter for about 10 seconds, ensuring to coat on both sides. Add two slices of soaked bread to the cast iron skillet and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Tip: in between each round of toast, wipe the cast iron skillet clean with paper towel so that the next round of toast doesn't get too brown or burn. Add 1 tbsp. of butter per each round of 2 slices of bread.
  • Heat a grill pan on medium-high to high heat. Add fruit face side down to grill pan and cook for a few minutes per side, or until fruit has grill marks and is cooked all the way through.
  • When you're ready to assemble your French toast, spread a thick layer of mascarpone cheese to the top of one slice of French toast. Repeat to add as many layers as you want.
  • Add a dollop of mascarpone cheese to the top of the stack, top with blueberries and raspberries and/or grilled fruit, sprinkle with powdered sugar and pour syrup, to taste. Serve and enjoy!
  • To serve grilled fruit as a side, cut into quarters or leave as halves, crumble Feta cheese over top, drizzle with fig glaze and serve.

Beautiful set-up of challah french toast Challah French toast with blueberries and raspberries Stack of challah french toast Challah french toast drenched in raspberry maple syrup French toast served on pretty vintage plates Drizzling more raspberry syrup on top of french toast

I know you’re going to enjoy this one – it was a real slice to make!

September 1, 2017
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