Slowly step away from the screen before you drop that mug of coffee. I know: you’re looking at a croissant that’s been battered and fried, and covered in maple syrup and freshly whipped cream. It’s a little dangerous to be talking about such things on a weekday, no? I say it’s never too early to plan for a special weekend. This is what we make on Christmas morning, because Santa deserves a treat for all the hard work he did the previous night. So, naturally, Mom and Dad just enjoy the leftover French toast made with croissants, because we want to help with any leftovers. I’ve also served it on Easter morning as part of a brunch spread with a ham and cheese casserole for a savory component.
What is croissant French toast?
If you understand that French toast is slightly stale bread dipped in a custard mixture and then lightly pan-fried until crisp and golden, you can see where we’re going with croissant French toast. Instead of using just any slightly stale bread, like we do with my French toast for two, to make things extra special, we’re using stale croissants. Croissants are super buttery, flaky French pastries, and they soak up a sweet custard mixture so nicely. The custard mixture we’re using today is made up of eggs, half and half, sugar, and vanilla extract. They’re truly simple pantry ingredients that you probably already have in your house! You can definitely use my small batch croissants recipe to make this, but it’s easier to use store-bought ones.
Ingredients:
With just a few ingredients, you can make this impressive brunch recipe that everyone will love! This recipe uses 4 croissants, so I can’t quite decide if it serves two or four people, so you decide! As always, you can scale up the recipe to suit your needs.
Croissants. You need 4 stale or day-old croissants for this recipe. Fresh croissants are too soft and tender for this recipe. On Christmas Eve, I slice mine open and leave them out overnight to really make them stale before cooking this on Christmas morning. Butter. We need extra butter for frying the French toast in the pan, just 2 tablespoons. Half and Half. When making custard, you need a high-fat dairy product. You can substitute milk here, but the results won’t be as creamy. Granulated Sugar. Vanilla Extract. Eggs. Two large eggs, beaten. For serving: fresh berries, whipped cream, and maple syrup.
Directions:
Recipe Adaptations:
You can use any type of milk for the diary part of the custard. Half and half is my preference, and it will make the creamiest, richest custard. However, you can use whole milk or any kind of alternative milk. A proper croissant French toast custard really needs eggs, but I have used applesauce in its place. This recipe uses croissants, but you can use any type of stale bread when making French toast.
What to Serve with Croissant French Toast:
We use this recipe as a special holiday breakfast for days like Christmas and Easter. I like to serve it with bacon and scrambled eggs on the buffet table. A pitcher of mango banana smoothie is super festive and simple, too. A latte bar with a way for guests to serve themselves a caramel latte is fun, too. For the non-coffee drinkers, you can serve a batch of chai lattes. For the kids, strawberry milk is very requested in our house. And finally, for the tea drinkers: a London Fog drink is always welcome.
