Coconut French toast topped with berries is not only delicious, but easy to make. A guaranteed success for Sunday brunch!
There are few things in life that I like more than enjoying a lazy Sunday morning. Waking up late, lounging around in my pj, and then preparing some sumptuous brunch. One of my essentials for brunch are either pancakes or French toast… after all I’m Italian, carbs are my best friend!
I’ve been living in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand for a few months, and while it’s been difficult to find some ingredients here, coconut isn’t one of them. You can find it all its forms: fresh coconut, coconut water, coconut milk, coconut cream, shredded coconut, coconut oil… it’s truly coconut galore.
Since I also happen to love coconut (who on Earth doesn’t?), it was pretty natural for me to incorporate it in my cooking more and more. Also, it doesn’t hurt that Thailand must be the cheapest place in the world to buy coconut milk – you can find a coconut milk bottle for less than $1!
This coconut French toast is:
• incredibly tasty
• lactose-free
• quick & easy to make.
Here it’s a video with all the steps to make coconut French toast. The whole family is going to love it, guaranteed!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED FOR COCONUT FRENCH TOAST
French toast is one of my favorite things to make for breakfast also because you really don’t need many ingredients to make it. You can see what you already have in your pantry and come up with a new recipe. For this berries & coconut french toast, though, this is what you’ll need.
• bread of the kind you prefer
• eggs
• sliced almonds
• fresh berries
• coconut milk
• berry jam
• maple syrup
• vanilla extract (optional)
• ground cinnamon (optional)
• coconut cream (optional)
If you don’t have all these ingredients at home though, no worries. The essential ingredients are bread, eggs, and coconut milk.
The rest is up to you. You can top it with different ingredients, keep scrolling down for a few other ideas.
THE BEST BREAD TO MAKE FRENCH TOAST
When it comes to choosing the best bread for French toast, honestly, it comes down to personal preference. There are just a couple of rules:
➤ Don’t choose a thin bread or it will fall apart during the soaking/cooking process.
➤ For the same reason, don’t choose a bread that’s too crumbly.
➤ Leftover bread can be used but if it’s too stale it won’t absorb the egg mix.
Having said that, I made the French toast in this recipe with wholewheat bread and it turned out delicious. However, there are some types of bread that might be better – I am in Thailand at the moment and it’s hard to find fancy types of bread here!
These are the types of bread that are generally considered the best breads for French Toast:
• Brioche bread
• Challah bread
• Potato bread.
FRENCH TOAST TOPPING IDEAS
For this recipe, I’ve chosen berries because I just love berries. I think their sour taste pairs perfectly with the sweetness of the coconut milk.
But you’re totally free to top the french toast with something else! When choosing what to top it with, though, keep in mind that the pancakes are already pretty sweet thanks to the coconut milk. You might want to avoid other super sweet toppings such as caramel. Here are some topping ideas for your french toast.
➤ Don’t top it with anything at all. In fact, this french toast is already super tasty thanks to the coconut milk, so you can be lazy and just add some maple syrup, and you’ve got a perfectly tasty breakfast.
➤ Make it even more coconutty. Top the french toast with shredded coconut or coconut flakes, and cover it in maple syrup. Delicious!
➤ What about yogurt, sliced bananas and strawberries? You can even substitute the yogurt with vanilla ice cream. Yummy!
➤ Another one of my favorite toppings for a coconut french toast is fruit compote. You can make it at home and it takes shorter than you think (15-20 minutes).
TIPS FOR THE PERFECT FRENCH TOAST
➤ For the perfect French toast, don’t keep the bread soaking in the custard for too long, otherwise the result will be not-so-great soggy French toast. A few seconds on each side is enough.
➤ Don’t use stale bread. It’s tempting to use leftover bread for french toast because, oh well, it gets soaked and cooked anyways. But stale bread doesn’t really absorb the custard, so better to use fresh bread.
➤ Whisk the custard well to make sure there are no egg lumps. Finding cooked egg white lumps on top of the french toast is not great.
➤ It’s easy to burn french toast if your stove temperature is set on high. Too low of a temperature, though, won’t let it cook well in the center, so make sure you go for a medium temperature.
