Churro French Toast (with milk chocolate, strawberries & raspberries)
This churro French toast makes for a wonderful weekend breakfast or brunch. Soft, slightly sweet and delicious. Keep it healthy by adding a dollop of Greek yoghurt and fruit, or go a little decadent and drizzle milk chocolate along with some whipped cream.
This recipe for churro French toast first appeared on my former blog, The Culinary Jumble. This post has been amended to show the ingredients and directions.
What is French toast?
French toast is a dish, usually served for breakfast or brunch, consisting of bread (often) stale, dipped in beaten eggs and then fried. Traditionally it was served as a savoury meal to make good use of old bread, but in more modern times, we’ve started to sweeten it up and it is now also eaten as a dessert.
There’s something a little romantic sounding about the name, isn’t there? We equate all things French as a little bit special, don’t we? So French toast must be quite the culinary event.ย
However, in all fairness, French toast is not French at all. It received this name back in 1724 in the USA, when an innkeeper by the name of Joseph French came up with the idea. Rather than calling it French’s toast, he omitted the S, and well, the rest is history. Talking about history, French toast has been around for centuries, all over the world, with each place having a different name.
The difference between French toast and eggy bread
We love French toast in our house. However, it’s only in the last few years that I got all fancy and started to call it French toast.ย In the UK, where I am from, we call it eggy bread. Yeah, doesn’t quite conjure up the same amount of romanticism as French toast. In true British style, we’re straight to the point where our food is concerned: eggs and bread = eggy bread.ย
So, what’s the difference between eggy bread and French toast? Well, that would be absolutely nothing. They are the same dish of bread dipped in egg and fried. Simple, quick, and the best breakfast going.ย
The difference comes in how they are served. My mum used to make a version where she broke up the bread into chunks before dipping into the eggs. This is certainly how I made it for my kids when they were little. In the UK, we often add our favorite HP sauce. Some weird folk add Ketchup (or so I’ve been told).
I don’t ever remember having sweet eggy bread when I was a kid. Although I developed a recipe for sweet eggy bread, topped with a caramel sauce, that is out of this world, I’ve got to say that I prefer it savoury.ย
The mash up of churros and French toast
The idea to give my French toast a little Spanish twist was not mine. In fact, I’d never seen them before. No, the idea came from Tania at The Gammon Kitchen (edit: unfortunately the blog no longer exists, so I can’t link it).
My first thought was how could a little cinnamon and sugar (the traditional churros coating) change something already so good, for the better? Well, you’d be surprised. They were a whole new realm of good. Believe me. So good that my youngest (fussiest) son went into raptures. That good.
What to serve with churro French toast
I drizzled over some melted chocolate and added strawberries and raspberries. However, you could top it with anything you like, such as Nutella, peanut butter or whipped cream. As the eggy bread itself doesn’t contain any sugar, you can make it a healthy breakfast or brunch by drizzling over some honey or maple syrup, adding your favourite fruit, or with a healthy dollop of Greek yoghurt by the side.ย
Other breakfast and brunch ideas
If you’re planning what to make at the weekend, here are some of my favourite breakfast and brunch recipes:
- Raspberry and cream cheese braid
- Cinnamon bun monkey bread (from scratch)
- Coffee cinnamon spelt overnight buns
- Raspberry and vanilla overnight buns
- Cherry and lemon spelt soda bread
- Spelt cheddar soda bread
- Sweet buns topped with homemade blackberry jam
Churro French Toast (with milk chocolate, strawberries & raspberries)
Ingredients
French Toast:
- 2 eggs (medium)
- 6 tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 slices of good quality bread (cut thickly)
- 10g (2 tsp) butter (for frying)
Toppings:
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 20g (1 oz) milk chocolate
- raspberries and strawberries
Instructions
- Whisk the egg, milk and vanilla together in a large bowl, until combined.
- Take your loaf (anything you like, but brioche works great) and slice it thickly.
- Take each slice of bread and dip into the egg mixture, allowing a few seconds for it to soak up the liquid, then turn over and repeat.
- Heat the butter in a frying pan, then fry the bread on each side until golden (about two minutes each side). You may need to do this in batches, depending on how large your pan is.
- Combine the sugar and cinnamon, and then pour onto a large plate.
- Place the hot french toast on top and then turn over so that your bread is evenly coated with the sugar/cinnamon mixture.
- Melt the milk chocolate and then drizzle over, finishing off with raspberries, strawberries or anything else you fancy. Enjoy!