Strawberry Jam French Toast with Strawberry Butter
You guyyyys. I feel so behind on life at the moment, and I feel like such a jerk for not sharing more with you! The wedding, the mini-moon, the honeymoon, the upcoming move! I’ve barely touched the surface on any of it.
Does this have anything to do with strawberry jam French toast? No, not really. But maybe it makes up for my absence as of late? I hope so. I still plan on sharing everything (not necessarily in the order that they occurred, because wedding photos are still not 100% available yet) though!
Promise.
Believe it or not, this French toast was inspired by a breakfast that I had during our mini-moon 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, and 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 Veritas 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.
I was hooked.
After getting home, I knew I had to recreate it in some form, and this strawberry jam French toast came into being. Though it’s hard to tell from the photos, each piece of French toast is actually made up of two slices of Challah bread filled with a thin layer of strawberry jam.
My biggest recommendation for this recipe is to use slightly older Challah bread (as it will hold together better than fresh bread), and to buy a barely sweetened strawberry jam or preserve for the filling.
The whole thing is topped with homemade strawberry butter (you just need a small food processor), warm maple syrup, and fresh strawberry slices.
Strawberry Jam French Toast with Strawberry Butter
Ingredients
Strawberry Butter:
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened and cut into chunks
- 2 ounces fresh strawberries, stems removed and halved
- pinch of salt
Strawberry Jam French Toast:
- 1 loaf of brioche bread, sliced into 1/2-inch thick slices (dry or slightly stale bread is ideal for French toast)
- strawberry preserves (preferably no-sugar added)
- 3/4 cup buttermilk*
- 3 large whole eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch of 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: Slice the brioche into 1/2-inch thick slices (you will need two slices for each serving of French toast). Spread one slice 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.
- Right before cooking, dip the sandwiched challah in the egg-buttermilk mixture, turning them until they have just become saturated. Allow any excess egg-buttermilk mixture to drip off, and place in the hot buttered pan. Avoid over-crowding the pan. Cook the french toast until golden brown on each side, flipping carefully with a wide heatproof spatula.
- Top the hot French toast with a spoonful of strawberry butter, and sliced strawberries. Serve immediately with maple syrup.
Notes
Buttermilk (as opposed to traditional milk or cream) helps balance the sweetness of this dish, and pairs very well with strawberries. This method was inspired by this recipe.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 562Total Fat: 30gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 218mgSodium: 365mgCarbohydrates: 67gFiber: 2gSugar: 42gProtein: 9g
A Beautiful Plate provides nutritional information, but these figures should be considered estimates, as they are not calculated by a registered dietician.
I should have more to say, but the awesomeness of this french toast just has me in awe. SO GOOD looking.
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 love everything about this… Especially that strawberry butter!!!
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!
Oh man…that butter!!! So tasty looking. And this French toast is fabulous in general…yum!
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 🙂
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.
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.
Oh man, this looks incredible. A must-make for June with all the strawberries popping up. Thanks!
Oh my goodness, this is even more reason to love strawberry season!
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.
I’ve seen strawberry cream cheese before (and love it) but STRAWBERRY BUTTER! This is the pinnacle of all my berry dreams.
Mmmmm. this looks so good.
I love compound butters. I think this will have to be made soon.
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!
STRAWBERRY BUTTER! I finally know what my life’s been missing lol – Looks amazing! x
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This recipe is so delicious!