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Challah French Toast

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Challah French Toast

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Soaked in a rich cinnamon-laced custard, this challah French toast is fit for a special occasion.

Challah French Toast

This challah French toast isn’t your everyday French toast, the kind you’d throw together with some stale sandwich bread, eggs, and low-fat milk you’ve got in the fridge. It’s so much more special. Made with challah and a rich custard flavored with honey, vanilla, and lots of cinnamon, it cooks up slightly crisp on the exterior and creamy on the interior, and it tastes almost like bread pudding.

What You’ll Need To Make Challah French Toast

ingredients for challah french toast

Spte-by-step instructions

custard ingredients in baking dishBegin by combining the eggs, milk, cream, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and salt in a large baking dish. Whisk well.

whisked custard ingredients in baking dish

Place a few slices of challah in the custard.

Soaked challah for french toast

Heat 1-1/2 tablespoons butter and 1-1/2 tablespoons oil over medium heat in a large skillet; add the soaked challah.

cooking challah french toastCook until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side.

golden brown challah French toast

Transfer the challah French toast to a wire rack and place in the oven to keep warm while cooking the remaining bread.

challah French toast on rack

Serve hot with maple syrup and enjoy!

Challah French Toast

More French Toast Recipes

Challah French Toast

Soaked in a rich cinnamon-laced custard, this challah French toast is fit for a special occasion.

Servings: 4 to 6
Total Time: 15 Minutes

Ingredients

  • 6 large eggs
  • ¾ cup low-fat milk
  • ¾ cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • Heaping ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 loaf day old challah, brioche or other good bread sliced ¾-inch thick
  • Unsalted butter
  • Vegetable oil
  • Maple syrup, for serving

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 250°F. Set wire rack on baking sheet and set aside.
  2. In a large baking dish, whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and salt.
  3. Place a few slices of the challah in the custard and let soak, flipping occasionally, until saturated but not falling apart, 1 to 2 minutes depending on how moist you like your French toast.
  4. Heat 1½ tablespoons butter and 1½ tablespoons oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Cook the first batch of soaked bread until golden brown, 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to the wire rack and place in the oven to keep warm while cooking the remaining bread. Wipe the skillet clean with paper towels. Soak and fry the remaining bread, using butter and oil as necessary, until it's all cooked. Serve hot with maple syrup.

Nutrition Information

Powered by Edamam

  • Serving size: 6
  • Calories: 543
  • Fat: 33 g
  • Saturated fat: 14 g
  • Carbohydrates: 45 g
  • Sugar: 10 g
  • Fiber: 2 g
  • Protein: 15 g
  • Sodium: 481 mg
  • Cholesterol: 282 mg

This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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Comments

  • Hi Jenn, thanks so much for all of your wonderful recipes! I was wondering if I could convert this recipe into a baked FT casserole?

    • — Diane Northrop on September 21, 2023
    • Reply
    • So glad you like the recipes! Yes, once baked, you can use this in a French toast casserole.

      • — Jenn on September 21, 2023
      • Reply
  • Jenn, I love French toast so can’t wait to try this. I do not drink low fat milk. Can I substitute more heavy cream or just use half in half instead? Please advise when you have a chance.
    Thanks, Staci

    • — staci on August 21, 2023
    • Reply
    • Sure!

      • — Jenn on August 22, 2023
      • Reply
  • I have made this several times! So so delicious! My 9 year old daughter absolutely loves this! I serve this with raspberries and blueberries and dust it with sugar too!

    • — Geetanjali Pillai on February 26, 2023
    • Reply
  • What an amazing upgrade to plain ole FT but yet so simple! Keeper. Thanks!

    • — KK on September 5, 2022
    • Reply
  • I’ve been searching for a good custard recipe for French toast. This is it!!! Perfect balance of creamy and sweetness. I used the following only because that’s all I had on hand this morning … maple syrup, half&half, and added fresh extra nutmeg into the custard. My challah slices sat out in the open overnight so they were perfectly dry. Pan fried in a mixture of ghee and avocado oil. Delicious!! Another winner Jen! Your recipes never disappoint. Thank you!!

    • — Fahreen Ramjee on May 8, 2022
    • Reply
  • Easy recipe. Rich and flavourful. I halved the recipe and I don’t soak it nearly as long as recommended – just enough to get it soaked through, then drained off the excess. I guess it’s a matter of personal taste. But so far, this is still the best recipe I’ve made. Key is getting the slices thick and uniform, and making sure the pan is hot enough but not too hot.

  • To be fair, I made this with the regular thick sliced bread I have used for French toast in the past (vilaggio brand), as I had already gone shopping before finding the recipe. Maybe that was part of the issue.

    I was so excited to make this recipe. Unfortunately I was bit disappointed with the results. It was not the best French toast I’ve ever had, and I didn’t find the flavor justified all the rich ingredients when compared to other recipes. I also found the amount if oil and butter in the pan to be excessive. It wasn’t bad… it just wasn’t exceptionally better either.

  • This is a simple and great-tasting recipe that is easy to put together. My family has already made it on three separate occasions. As is, the recipe makes a wonderful brunch or even late night dinner if you are into that breakfast for dinner kind of thing, which we are. We tried it with vanilla extract and loved it. We also substituted the vanilla with lemon zest and lemon extract (and added blueberries) as well as orange zest and orange extract (and topped with toasted sliced almonds). They were all fabulous. And since challah stores well in the freezer, we can have it any day without much planning ahead. We served it with bacon or sausage and both were tasty. You will be happy to have finally found your go-to French toast recipe!

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