Vanilla French Toast with Boozy Poached Strawberries and Peaches

My guilty pleasure.

I'm about to share my all time guilty pleasure recipe. I usually make this at about 11 o'clock on my day off, as I always skip breakfast and am usually really hungry by then. It's most definitely a guilty pleasure based on how much sugar it has, so should be enjoyed occasionally, no matter how much I'd like to eat it every day.

A perfect way of using up stale bread and over ripe fruit.

Another reason I love this recipe is that it's great for using up stale bread and over ripe fruit. My favourite fruit to have it with is nectarines but it can be used with various fruits such as:

• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Peaches
• Oranges or clementines
• Apple and sultanas
• Plums
• Cherries

Vanilla French Toast with Boozy Poached Strawberries and Peaches

Indulgent guilty pleasure of sweet vanilla french toast, topped with boozy poached fruits.

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Servings 1 person

Ingredients

  

French toast

• 1 slice bread more than one day old, from bakery is better
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk I used semi-skimmed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons golden caster sugar

Fruit topping

• 1 handful fruit see above for ideas
• 2 tablespoons alcohol rum, brandy or I prefer elderflower liquerer
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar

Instructions

 

• In a flat bottomed bowl (I use a pasta bowl) add your egg, milk and vanilla essence and whisk until combined.
• Place the slice of bread into the bowl and let it soak for a few seconds, before turning over and leaving a few seconds longer. Both sides should be fully soaked with the mixture and ideally no mixture left in the bowl.
• Put a frying pan on medium heat and melt a knob of butter in it.
• Add the soaked bread to the pan carefully. Cook on both sides until golden. While cooking move onto the next steps. Be sure to keep an eye on the french toast.
• Dice the fruit into small pieces.
• In a small saucepan on a high heat, add the fruit, alcohol and icing sugar.
• Allow to simmer for a few minutes, if the fruit starts to become soft (mainly with strawberries, other fruits should be fine) spoon out of the pan and set to one side. Allowing the juices and alcohol to continue simmering.
• Continue to simmer until the liquid has evaporated enough to leave you with a syrup consistency.
• Take the cooked french toast and dip in a flat bottom bowl containing the golden caster sugar. Flip over so that both sides are dusted in sugar then set to one side on a plate.
• Once the liquid has become syrup like add the fruits back to the mixture and pour over your sugar dusted french toast.

Notes

 

As you can see from the photos below I make this fairly regularly. I've used different types of bread and various fruits. Strawberries and nectarines are my favourite fruit and any bread is fine, but I would always prefer bakery bread as factory made breads seem less absorbent.