Although I’m out of the country this Mother’s Day I’m thinking of my mother and all of the wonderful foods we enjoy together. One indulgence we both have a taste for is French Toast. She made french toast for us all growing up. And her classic recipe is one I still use to today. This Baked French Toast recipe I’m sharing today is a spring version of the classic using seasonally fresh fruits and a crunchy almond streusel topping. The strawberry rhubarb compote adds a great tart flavor to the sweet almost bread-pudding-like casserole. In my mind, this would be the perfect Mother’s Day brunch recipe.
I adore french toast so much that even Josh has learned my mother’s french toaste recipe. Although its quite simple, the extra spices she used make it better than most family recipes. On the weekends my mother would consistently cook either panckaes or french toast. She would get out the long griddle from the tall cabinets in our kitchen and turn into onto med-high heat, which she marked on the temperature control button with a sharpee, so that the griddle would heat to just the right temperature. She would wake up my sister and I telling us she was cooking breakfast, then I would stay in bed until I could smell the spices of the french toast coming from downstairs. That’s when I knew it was ready.
To top off her cinnamon spice french toast I always requested Smucker’s strawberry syrup, my childhood preference to maple syrup. The rest of the family happily topped their breakfast with Aunt Jemima butter light syrup but I stubbornly demanded the strawberry variety, making for what I thought was the perfect breakfast.
This Baked Strawberry Rhubarb French toast is a spin-off of my childhood favorite. I always enjoy baked french toast when I’m preparing brunch for a crowd or when we have guests in our home. It’s easy to prepare the night before so I can make the best of my time with friends or family. But if you’re not wanting to prepare it the night before, you could make a simple french toast and then just add the strawberry rhubarb compote as a topping. And if you happen to have leftovers of the strawberry rhubarb compote as I did, you can use it as a topping on oatmeal for the next week.
Ingredients
- 1 loaf of day old bread or a baguette
- 1 cup kefir (substitute for half and half)
- 1 cup almond milk (substitute for whole milk)
- 6 eggs
- 1/4 cup whipping cream
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 cup sugar
- dash of salt
- 2 cups strawberries
- 2 cups rhubarb
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 stick of butter, melted
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons of flour
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Mix strawberries, rhubarb, and sugar with 3 tablespoons of water in a pot over medium heat. When the fruit starts to bubble turn to low and let simmer until it turns to a sauce-like consistency.
- Mix all of the crumble ingredients together and store in refrigerator over night. Spoon over French Toast before baking
- Tear bread into chunks. Fill a 9 by 13 inch baking dish with the bread. Combine all of the rest of the French Toast ingredients then pour half of the milk and egg mixture over the bread. Spoon half of the strawberry rhubarb compote over the bread then pour the remaining milk egg mixture over the top. Cover and store in refrigerator over night.
- In the morning preheat oven to 350. Spoon the crumble mixture over the top of the french toast. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the toast is golden brown on top and bubbling around the edges. Heat the remaining strawberry rhubarb compote over low heat. Serve the french toast with a few spoonfuls of the strawberry rhubarb sauce on top.
Notes
You may substitute half and half for the kefir or whole milk for almond milk. Or use whatever mixture to equal 2 cups of rich milk.
This looks delicious!!! Funny that we both thought of Mom’s french toast on Mother’s Day. I love that you taught Josh to make it, hehehe!
I have really grown to love baked French toast, and this version sounds so good!
Cool recipe, it’s always good to have another idea for strawberry and rhubarb at this time of year. No eggs, interesting. And not much sugar considering that it has rhubarb. I liked the way you substituted kefir and almond milk for some of the dairy in the recipe. Looks like you were aiming for a somewhat healthier dessert. Thanks!
Actually there are eggs. So sorry but somehow they got overlooked in the recipe. Thanks so much for stopping by the blog!