Strawberry Jam French Toast
Believe it or not, this French toast was inspired by a breakfast that I had during our mini honeymoon many, many weeks ago.
Directly after the wedding, we drove down to Charlottesville, VA to stay at The Farmhouse at Veritas, a beautiful bed and breakfast at one of the area’s local wineries.
We spent two days there, and I’ve never felt more relaxed or spoiled. It was the perfect getaway after a hectic few weeks of wedding planning. We did absolutely nothing. It was glorious. I highly recommend doing nothing every now and then.
Eating was the primary activity of the day and we had lots of opportunities to do it. My favorite meal was breakfast. Every day, we were spoiled with complimentary sparkling wine (which promptly made me feel like taking a nap directly after breakfast), freshly squeezed orange juice, flaky croissants, and our choice of either a savory or sweet breakfast.
Connor and I would always get one of each and share them equally. The thing I loved the most about the sweet breakfasts were that they were usually pancakes or French toast, and they were always topped with some sort of fun compound butter.
Salted caramel butter on banana pancakes? Yep. Chocolate butter to accompany the croissants? That happened too. And then, of course, fresh strawberry-flecked butter for French toast.
After getting home, I knew I had to recreate the idea in some form and this strawberry jam French toast came into being. Each piece of French toast is actually made up of two slices of enriched bread layered with strawberry preserves.
My biggest recommendation for this recipe is to use slightly stale Brioche or Challah bread. Stale bread will hold together better than fresh bread.
Just before serving, top the Jam French Toast with the homemade strawberry butter, additional strawberries slices, and warm maple syrup.
Strawberry Jam French Toast with Strawberry Butter
Ingredients
Strawberry Butter:
- 4 oz (115g) unsalted butter softened and cut into chunks
- 2 oz (55g) fresh ripe strawberries hulled and halved
- pinch kosher salt
Strawberry Jam French Toast:
- 1 stale brioche or challah loaf sliced into ½-inch thick slices
- tart strawberry preserves
- ¾ cup (180 mL) buttermilk
- 3 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch kosher salt
- unsalted butter
- warm pure maple syrup for serving
- sliced fresh strawberries for serving
Instructions
- Prepare Strawberry Butter: In the bowl of a small food processor, combine the softened butter, fresh strawberry chunks, and salt. Pulse and process until butter is comes together, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as needed, until the butter is smooth and evenly flecked with fresh strawberry pieces. Transfer to a small bowl, and set aside.
- Prepare French toast: For each serving, spread a slice of Brioche with a thin layer of strawberry preserves and top with another slice of brioche bread. Set aside.
- In a large, shallow bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla extract and salt. Set aside.
- Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat and add a tab of butter. Just before cooking, dip the sandwiched challah in the egg-buttermilk mixture on both sides. Allow any excess liquid to drip off and place into the pan in the sizzling butter. Avoid over-crowding the pan. Cook the french toast until golden brown on each side, flipping carefully with a wide heatproof spatula.
- Top with a spoonful of strawberry butter and sliced strawberries. Serve immediately with warm maple syrup.
17 Comments on “Strawberry Jam French Toast”
This recipe is so delicious!
STRAWBERRY BUTTER! I finally know what my life’s been missing lol – Looks amazing! x
Yum yum yum! I would love a slice of your strawberry jam french toast! I live in a world where “they” eat french toast with ketchup, but then again they call it eggy toast…which makes sense really. Also they’d probably want this as dessert not breakfast…why did I move here? Anyway, I think I’ll need to recreate this in my kitchen!
Mmmmm. this looks so good.
I love compound butters. I think this will have to be made soon.
I’ve seen strawberry cream cheese before (and love it) but STRAWBERRY BUTTER! This is the pinnacle of all my berry dreams.
I want to eat this, then break out my old Strawberry Shortcake dolls and have a nice play session with my nephew (he’s young enough that he’s not held back by the lack of manliness in Strawberry Shortcake yet). Yes, that sounds like a plan.
Oh my goodness, this is even more reason to love strawberry season!
Oh man, this looks incredible. A must-make for June with all the strawberries popping up. Thanks!
THIS is what I want for breakfast tomorrow, but honestly, I could go for it right this very minute. At 10:53 p.m. Sweet tooth in full force.
Maybe i missed it but what do you do with the jam? Looks good with or without it though!
Yikes! So sorry about that! You actually sandwich two slices of brioche bread with strawberry preserves, and then dunk it into the custard mixture before cooking! Hope that makes sense.
Oh wow, this looks out of this world fantastic. I absolutely love brioche french toast- that really is the only way to make it, in my opinion 🙂
Oh man…that butter!!! So tasty looking. And this French toast is fabulous in general…yum!
Pips and I think it looks delicious and Prince Arthur can’t wait until you make it for him!
Great idea to have the compound butter!
I love everything about this… Especially that strawberry butter!!!
Doing nothing sounds pretty glorious! This french toast is incredible! Can’t wait to see more pics of all your recents life events. You’ve had quit a few! 🙂
I should have more to say, but the awesomeness of this french toast just has me in awe. SO GOOD looking.