EGGNOG FRENCH TOAST

Eating french toast on the weekend has been a tradition in my family ever since I can remember. Breakfast on the weekend meant that my dad would be cooking for us and he made the very best french toast. A golden crispy exterior with a fluffy custard center, french toast was his specialty. Once I got married, the tradition of weekend french toast just happened to be something that my mother-in-law kept every time the grandkids were over and thankfully, me and hubby were always invited.

Now that the busyness of the holiday season is here, we find ourselves longing for those slow weekend mornings when the number one priority is to relax and spend time with one another feasting on something comforting. The holiday season also means we are never without eggnog. While we typically just drink our eggnog mixed with milk, I could not help but infuse the flavor of eggnog that we love so much into our beloved weekend french toast.

The key to creating the most incredible french toast is to use great ingredients like pasture raised eggs, the very best brioche bread, organic eggnog and high quality butter. In both of our families, french toast was simply served with butter & maple syrup. However, hubby and I love to top our french toast with whatever fruit is in season. Between our own fruit trees and the plethora of fruit trees in our neighborhood, we literally have access to hundreds of pounds of persimmons each fall, which means persimmons were the first choice for what fruit I would pair with our eggnog french toast.

The persimmons get peeled, seeded, sliced and then warmed in a bit of butter and maple syrup on the stovetop. Fuyu persimmons are firm & crisp like an apple when first harvested, but soften as they ripen. Since the fuyu persimmons I used were freshly harvested, their flesh was still firm, so they needed to cook longer than you will need to cook riper fuyu persimmons.

The persimmon slices meld with the butter and maple syrup to become a lovely warm fruit topping for the eggnog french toast. The toasts get completed with a drizzle of pure maple syrup and a sprinkling of pomegranate arils for a beautiful pop of color and that classic sweet-tart flavor.

Eggnog french toast is the perfect breakfast to enjoy with your family during the holiday season. You can even be prepare it the night before and bake it the next morning for a quick yet impressive meal (notes for the alternate oven baked method are in the recipe below). A wonderful fusion of some of our most loved foods, this eggnog french toast has become our favorite winter rendition of our treasured family tradition.

EGGNOG FRENCH TOAST

Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 8 slices 1x

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Instructions

Melt the 2 tbsp of butter & 3 tbsp of maple syrup together in a small saucepan – add prepared persimmon slices & stir to coat
Cook persimmons over low heat, gently stirring until they are just soft (this can take 5-15 minutes, depending on how firm your fuyu persimmons are)
Whisk together eggnog & eggs in a shallow bowl until well combined
Heat a skillet or griddle over medium heat & melt 1 tablespoon of butter for every two slices of toast you are frying
Dip each slice of bread into the eggnog coating to thoroughly coat & immediately fry for about 3 minutes on each side until golden brown, being careful not to burn them
Serve topped with warm persimmons, a drizzle of maple syrup & a sprinkle of pomegranate arils

Notes

FOR ALTERNATE OVEN BAKED METHOD:

Butter a baking pan that will snugly fit the 8 slices of bread layered over one another.
Increase the eggnog to 1 1/2 cups & whisk together with three eggs for the coating.
Dunk all of the bread in the eggnog coating & arrange in the baking pan.
Pour excess coating over the bread in the pan & allow to soak for at least one hour and up to overnight in the fridge.
When ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 350°F for 30 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.
While the french toast bakes, prepare the fruit topping & serve as above

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