This decadent stuffed French toast with strawberries recipe is sure to start your day off right! The cream cheese filling is delicious and satisfying, while the macerated strawberries add a touch of sweetness to the crispy yet pillowy soft French toasted challah bread. This recipe is sure to become a favorite in your household!
Table of Contents
Why We Love This Recipe
This recipe is a combination of macerated strawberries and a delicious cream cheese filling. The infusion makes it perfect for breakfast, brunch, dessert or special occasions. Our stuffed french toast recipe has a rich, creamy filling studded with sweet macerated strawberries. The result is a dish that is both decadent and playful, and it is sure to please everyone at the table. Plus, this recipe is relatively simple to make taking a classic French toast to another level.
What Do You Mean by Caramelized?
This recipe was inspired by Karen over at The Food Charlatan. Before now, our family didn’t make French toast often because we weren’t fans of the sogginess. And if it wasn’t soggy, it was just plain dry which meant we were overdoing it with the maple syrup.
After trying Karen’s method we haven’t looked back and we no longer even think about adding maple syrup to this dish. It’s like adding ketchup to a hot dog in Chicago. A big no-no! Keep reading to find out how we caramelize the edges for a sugary crunch while maintaining a moist soft (not soggy!) center. It truly is magical!
What is the best bread for French toast?
Ultimately, the best bread for French toast is the bread that you have on hand and that you enjoy eating. For those who are looking for a slightly sweeter option, brioche or challah bread can be a good choice. These types of bread are often made with eggs and butter, which helps to give them a richer flavor. However, they can also be more challenging to work with since they tend to be softer and more delicate. For a simpler option, white bread such as Texas toast or French bread is always a good choice. It’s easy to find and usually inexpensive, and it will soak up the egg mixture well.
Challah: In our opinion, when it comes to French toast, challah is the best bread hands down. Its rich, eggy flavor pairs perfectly with sweet toppings like syrup or fresh berries and its pillowy texture ensures that each bite is deliciously moist. Plus, Challah’s distinctive braided shape gives it an elegant appearance that elevates any meal. Stale bread is traditional for French toast so if your loaf is very fresh let it sit out for a day or two to dry out a bit.
Ingredients Needed
FOR THE STRAWBERRY TOPPING
Fresh Strawberries – Cleaned, hulled and sliced
Granulated Sugar
Lemon Juice – Fresh squeezed or bottled
Salt – Optional but not really:)
FOR THE FRENCH TOAST
Challah Bread – A whole loaf. Brioche works great as well in this recipe.
Eggs – We’ll be using 3 egg yolks and 1 whole egg. When using egg yolks there will pretty no “eggy” taste. More importantly no scrambled eggs stuck to the bread which is a pet peeve of ours when it comes to French toast.
Heavy Cream and Whole Milk – You can use all milk if you’d like but we love the richness the heavy cream adds.
Vanilla Extract – As usual, the real stuff!
Granulated sugar – To slightly sweeten the custard
Brown Sugar – For caramelizing the toast while it’s pan frying
Butter – Grass fed please!
Avocado Oil – You can also use other neutral, high smoke point oils such as non-gmo canola oil.
Cinnamon and Salt
FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FILLING
Cream Cheese – softened at room temperature
Sour Cream
Powdered Sugar
Lemon Juice
Vanilla Extract
How to Make the Cream Cheese Filling
In a large bowl add softened cream cheese, sour cream, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice. With a hand mixer, blend until smooth. The result is a rich and creamy filling that is perfect not just for this recipe but for a variety of desserts.
How to Macerate the Strawberries
If you want to make a strawberry sauce, you will need to macerate the strawberries first. This simply means that you will need to let them soak in sugar for a period of time. The sugar will help to draw out the juices from the strawberries, resulting in a sweeter, more flavorful topping.
Wash, hull and slice the strawberries. In a medium size bowl, add sliced strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt. Cover the bowl and let the strawberries chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Keep in mind that the longer they sit, the more strawberry syrup will form.
Macerating strawberries is a quick and easy way to bring out their natural flavors and create a delicious topping for ice cream or cake.
How to Make the Stuffed French Toast
While it may look impressive, stuffed French toast is actually quite simple to make. Start by cutting the loaf of bread into thick 1.5 – 2 inch slices.
Then for each slice, you’ll cut a “pocket” into the center. Do this by creating a deep slit starting at the top of the slice of bread. To make it easier, you can also just cut each slice in two and create more of a french toast sandwich rather than filling the “pocket”. We prefer creating the slit so there is less leakage once cooked.
Next, fill each piece of bread with the cream cheese filling. Be sure not to overstuff. You should be able to close the top of the slice without too much of the filling seeping out.
If you opted to use two slices of bread rather than filling, then spread a layer of the cream cheese mixture on each slice, leaving the edges free. Place one slice on top of another to make the sandwich.
Over medium-low heat, melt a tablespoon of butter in a large nonstick skillet with avocado oil. Yes, we said med-low! We’ll be cooking our French toast low and slow to prevent excessive sogginess.
In a shallow medium bowl or baking dish, whisk together 1 whole egg, 3 egg yolks, heavy cream, milk, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon and salt. Whisk well to combine.
Soak each piece of stuffed bread in the mixture for 10 – 30 seconds on each side. We opted for 15 seconds and it was the perfect texture.
Place stuffed bread slices into the heated skillet. Each side will pan fry for 3-5 minutes.
How to Caramelize: After 2-3 minutes of cooking the first side sprinkle a teaspoon of brown sugar over the top of the uncooked side of the bread. Flip the bread so the sugar side is down and fry until golden brown. Next sprinkle another teaspoon of brown sugar on the half-cooked side and flip it over again so that both sides are caramelized.
Repeat until all of the toast is cooked. As you’re cooking, you can keep warm in the oven at the lowest setting. Don’t go over 20 minutes in the oven or you may run the risk of drying out the toast.
How to Serve: Serve French toast warm and top with macerated strawberries and optionally, powdered sugar. Feel free to experiment with your favorite toppings such as whipped cream, fresh fruit, nuts and more.
Try These Variations of French Toast Toppings
-Sliced bananas and honey
-Strawberry jam and whipped cream
-Blueberry syrup and powdered sugar
-Pecans and maple syrup
-Banana Nutella
How to Store Leftovers
We doubt you’ll have leftovers but if you do, they can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days. Simply place it in an airtight container or wrap it in plastic wrap. The toast can also be frozen for up to 2 months. Just make sure to thaw it out overnight in the fridge before reheating.
How to Reheat Stuffed French Toast
To reheat, place french toast on a baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees F for 10-15 minutes or until heated through. You can also reheat in the microwave at 20 second intervals until desired temp is reached.
Enjoy the perfect combination of sweet and creamy flavors with this delicious Cream Cheese Strawberry Stuffed French Toast Topped. The soft custard-like texture, with a burst of juiciness from the strawberries, will take your breakfast to an entirely new level. Whether it’s a special occasion or just a weekday morning, this scrumptious dish is sure to make you and your whole family smile. This will be the best French toast you ever made! Bon Appetit!
After you’ve indulged in this creation make sure to check my acai bowl recipe. It’s super healthy!
Caramelized Stuffed French Toast With Macerated Strawberries
Ingredients
Macerated Strawberries
- 2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp salt
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tbsp lemon juice
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
French Toast
- 1 egg, whole
- 3 egg yolks
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp brown sugar, dark or light
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- ½ tbls cinnamon
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 loaf of challah
- butter, for pan frying French toast
- avocado oil, for pan frying French toast
Instructions
Cream Cheese Filling
- In a large bowl add softened cream cheese, sour cream, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice.
- With a hand mixer, blend until smooth. The result is a rich and creamy filling that is perfect not just for this recipe but for a variety of desserts.
Macerated Strawberries
- Wash, hull and slice the strawberries.
- In a medium size bowl, add sliced strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt. Cover the bowl and let the strawberries chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
Stuffed French Toast
- Cut the loaf of bread into thick 1.5 – 2 inch slices.
- Then for each slice, you’ll cut a “pocket” into the center. Do this by creating a deep slit starting at the top of the slice of bread.
- Fill each piece of bread with the cream cheese filling. Be sure not to overstuff. You should be able to close the top of the slice without too much of the filling seeping out.
- Over medium-low heat, melt a tablespoon of butter in a large nonstick skillet with avocado oil.
- In a shallow medium bowl or baking dish, whisk together 1 whole egg, 3 egg yolks, heavy cream, milk, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon and salt. Whisk well to combine.
- Soak each piece of stuffed bread in the mixture for 10 – 30 seconds on each side.
- Place stuffed bread slices into the heated skillet.
- After 2-3 minutes of cooking the first side sprinkle a teaspoon of brown sugar over the top of the uncooked side of the bread.
- Flip the bread so the sugar side is down and fry until golden brown. Next sprinkle another teaspoon of brown sugar on the half-cooked side and flip it over again so that both sides are caramelized.
- Repeat until all of the toast is cooked. As you’re cooking, you can keep warm in the oven at the lowest setting.
- Serve French toast warm and top with macerated strawberries and optionally, powdered sugar.
6 Responses
The cream cheese filling in these is the BEST. Such a deliciously indulgent way to kick off the day.
Wow! This was a show stopper breakfast! We felt like we were at a fancy cafe or something. The cream cheese filling is so delicious and the strawberries brought a fresh flavor.
We surely enjoy this adorable stuffed French toast. It was sooo good and filling! Such a great start for a day.
This is a perfect combi! The stuffed French toast is flavorful and soft, it perfectly matches the strawberries. So satisfying!
This tasted so delicious! Would definitely recommend it!
Did enjoy this with my family. will surely make it again.