Me, oh my! Guys, I’ve never had this happen before. I posted my Challah French Toast on Instagram stories and I received so many DMs that my account was locked by Instagram. I didn’t even know that was possible, but it happened. So I freaked because for about 10 minutes I couldn’t login – I thought I had been hacked. Once I was able to sign back in, I saw that this recipe was highly coveted by my Instafriends, so I immediately knew I needed to share the details.
Now, let’s be real I can’t take full credit for this recipe. Like the Beatles say, I had a little help from my friends and in this case, I was inspired by my friend Dana from @Miamifoodporn because she posted her French Toast dish last weekend on Instagram. It looked so good that I kept dreaming about French toast all week! And because I was craving a little indulgence this weekend, I decided to try making a similar dish. I grabbed my favorite cookbook from one of my favorite restaurants in London, NOPI by Ottolenghi.
By taking a little bit of inspo from these two food influencers, my Challah French Toast is purely decadent. I hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as you will enjoy devouring it!
Challah French Toast Recipe
- 5 Cage Free eggs
- 1 cup Plain Oat Milk (I used the Chobani Oat Milk in this case but also love Oatly)
- 1 Challah Loaf cut into 6 thick slices (about 1.5 inches each)
- 6 TBSP of unsalted butter
- 2.5 TSP Bourbon Pure Madagascar Vanilla I use good vanilla always.
- 2 TSP Vietnamese Cinnamon – has a different spice than regular cinnamon. You can use either or!
- 1 TSP Nutmeg
- 0.5 TBSP Pure Cane Sugar
Tangerine Yogurt Topping Ingredients
- 1 5.3 oz container Siggi’s Plain Yogurt
- 1 5.3 oz container Siggi’s Vanilla Yogurt
- 2 TBSP Confectioners Sugar
- Finely grated zest of 1 fresh tangerine
- 2 TBSP freshly squeezed tangerine juice
** Ottolenghi recipe calls for orange. In my case tangerines were in season and I prefer the taste!
Mixed Berry Compote Ingredients
- 1 Package Organic Mixed Berries – frozen always. My mix had strawberries, blueberries and black berries
- 5 TBSP Pure Cane Sugar
- 4 TSP Freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
** Make extra of this because it’s AMAZING on top of oatmeal too!
*** For your quarantine convenience I linked all of the ingredients from the recipe. I always try to use organic, non-GMO when available.
Make the Yogurt and Berry Toppings First
I love maple syrup, but its so predictable in a French Toast recipe. What I love about Ottolenghi is that he finds unpredictable ways to bring flavor to dishes. In this case it’s the perfect balance between the tangerine yogurt and berry compote. The flavors play off each other so nicely it’s hard not to enjoy. You can prep the toppings the night before so save time.
Tangerine Yogurt Topping
Whip together the Siggi’s Plain and Vanilla yogurts with the confectioners sugar. It creates almost a fluffy cream. Gently fold in the tangerine juice and tangerine zest. Do this to taste. I prefer mine to be extra tangerine, so I add more freshly squeezed juice. Do you here. One you have the perfect flava-flav, cover the bowl and place in the fridge.
Mixed Berry Compote Topping
Place the frozen berries in a medium saucepan with the lemon juice and sugar. Place on high heat and cook for 6 minutes stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved and the compote is shiny. During the last minute stir in the lemon zest. Remove from heat and set aside for an hour either at room temperature on in the fridge.
Challah Back Shorty – The Recipe Details
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Place the eggs in a medium bowl and whip until light and fluffy. Continue to whisk as you pour in the oat milk and the vanilla. Fold in the dry ingredients.
Gently dip each slice into the mixture to ensure the Challah soaks in the goodness and place the soaked Challah slices so they are close together. These next steps are quick to prevent the Challah from breaking apart.
Place a large non-stick pan on medium heat with 1 TBSP of butter. When the butter starts to foam, add 2-3 of the soaked Challah slices in the pan. Fry for 1-2 minutes until golden brown edges appear. Flip the toast and add more butter to prevent sticking. Fry for another 1-2 minutes to achieve golden brown edge color.
Repeat with the remaining slices of soaked Challah. Once all of the Challah as been fried. Set all of the sliced in a medium baking tray. Transfer the tray into the oven and bake Challah for another 4 minutes until it is puffed up. While they are in the oven, remove the compote and yogurt from the fridge.
Remove Challah from oven.
Place on plate and top each slice with Compote and Yogurt. Enjoy with a yummy mimosa or Iced Cafecito!
Hopefully you enjoy this Challah French Toast recipe as much as I do. It is honestly so delicious I think you’ll look forward to skipping the expensive restaurant brunch and dining in at home. From my kitchen to yours, sharing a dash of Miami spice for your everyday life!
Interested in more entertaining ideas?
+ Check out my Romantic Living Room Picnic
+ And check out my other Miami inspired Recipes