Treat your family to this delicious cherry french toast recipe. It’s a mostly make-ahead-able dish, too!
This Cherry French Toast checks all the boxes – decadent, delicious and mostly make-ahead-able.
If you’re looking for a treat to share with your family, trust me … you won’t regret making this one! Imagine a rich, homemade cherry bread, sandwiched with a vanilla cream (pastry cream lightened up with creme fraiche), cooked up French Toast style and topped with a warm whole cherry sauce. It’s the perfect holiday indulgence :)
Ingredients and Substitutions
Bread – a good store-bought Brioche bread is all you need for this recipe. If you can’t find Brioche, Challah or a similar egg enriched bread will work as well.
Cherries – frozen dark or black sweet cherries are perfect for this French toast.
Cream Cheese – you can use a full fat or reduced fat cream cheese.
Recipe Tips
The cherry syrup and vanilla cream can both be made a day or so ahead and refrigerated. When it comes time to make the French Toast, simply grab all your components out of the fridge and you can be enjoying this French Toast in about 15 minutes. It doesn’t get any better than that!
This recipe make 5 French Toast “sandwiches”. A serving would most often be 1/2 of a sandwich, so each sandwich made would make 2 servings.
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Get the Recipe: Cherry French Toast
Ingredients
For the Cherry Sauce: (can be made ahead)
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 17.5 oz frozen pitted dark sweet cherries, thawed
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
For the Vanilla Cream: (can be made ahead)
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, 35% b.f.
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 3 large egg yolks
- 5 Tablespoons white granulated sugar
- 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
For the French Toast:
- 10 slices Brioche bread
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup milk
- 5 Tablespoons butter, for frying
Instructions
- To make the Cherry Syrup: Sprinkle the sugar over bottom of a large saucepan over medium heat. Heat until the sugar begins to melt (1-2 minutes). Add the thawed cherries, lemon juice and cornstarch and cook, stirring occasionally, until clear and syrupy about 5-8 minutes. Remove from heat, remove half the cherries with a slotted spoon and coarsely chop. Set aside chopped cherries for use in the bread. Refrigerate the remaining whole cherries in syrup in an airtight container until required.
- To Make the Vanilla Cream: In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the cream, milk, vanilla to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch until smooth. Return the cream mixture to medium-high heat and return to just below boiling over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and very slowly (a drop at a time at first), add to the bowl with the yolk/sugar mixture while whisking continuously to combine. Continue until all the milk mixture is added and then return the whole mixture back to the saucepan and over medium heat, whisk continuously until thick (4-6 minutes). Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and let cool for 10-15 minutes, then cover closely with plastic wrap and allow chill completely (30-40 minutes). Fold in the cream cheese and refrigerate until required.
- To make the French Toast: Place cherry syrup in a saucepan over low heat to warm while you are making the french toast.
- Preheat oven to 300F. Spread half the bread slices with 2 Tbsp. of the vanilla cream and top with the other slices of bread, sandwich style. Set aside. Whisk together the eggs and milk in a flat bowl or deep plate to combine. Heat one third of the butter in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat until foaming. Dip both sides of sandwiches in egg mixture, allowing to sit in the egg mixture for a minutes, then shaking off excess, and cook in batches, turning once, until golden, about 2-4 minutes. Transfer to an oven tray lined with baking paper and place in oven to keep warm. Wipe pan clean with absorbent paper and repeat with remaining butter and sandwiches.
- Serve hot, drizzled with warm cherries in syrup and pass the remaining vanilla cream.
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Are you kidding me? I want to wake up in your house…
Thanks Sue. It’s great to wake up to!
Yum Yum! So Delicious
Thanks Rebecca!
I now know what I am serving for breakfast on Christmas morning. Thanks!
Perfect choice :) Enjoy!
What a gorgeous breakfast, I adore the cherries and vanilla cream!
Thanks Laura. That vanilla cream was delicious with the cherries!
This just looks sinful… in the most amazing way! The cherry sauce is perfection. I think I’m going to have to give this one a try one of these Sunday mornings!
Thanks Jessie and you should! :)
Mouthwatering, Jennifer! My family has a tradition of some sort of french toast for Thanksgiving morning. I am totally voting that we make this one. Just gorgeous!
Thanks Sarah. I highly recommend! I loved that everything could be made ahead. Would make for an easy prep on Thanksgiving morning.
I can’t even BEGIN to explain how in love with this I am… the photos are totally drool-worthy and I can only imagine how good it tastes. I think you’ve outdone yourself!!
Thanks so much, Alexandra!
Sooo french toast is my favorite food and cherry sauce is my weakness….GET OUT OF MY WAAAAAAYYYYYY! Crushing on this so hard. Yum!
I’m a french toast lover, too Katrina and this one did not disappoint!! Highly recommend (loved the vanilla cream in this, too :)
Just found your site from FG. Just spent the last 10 minutes looking at so many of your beautiful recipes and pictures! Love your photography and style. This looks like such an indulgent and delicious breakfast treat!
Thanks so much, Emily!
Oh man, you had me at brioche! This french toast looks so decadent!
It is! And the bread was delicious all on it’s own.
I am trying so hard not to lick the screen right now. WOW this looks amazing!! I am definitely making this for breakfast on Christmas day!
Thanks Meghan. This would be so perfect for Christmas morning!
Thanks Liz! I have to say, this one exceeded my expectations (and they were pretty high going in to it ;)
Oh my gosh, Jennifer. This looks incredible. I would eat the entire batch and then have no more room for the big turkey dinner! And I wouldn’t be sad about it!