I don’t have many breakfast dishes on here but that makes sense since breakfast most mornings is porridge and fruit. Every now and then I like a bit of Sunday indulgence though – pretty much all the breakfast dishes on here are as a result of that. The fact that I can recite every Nigella episode verbatim might explain how this doughnut French toast came to mind in the middle of the night. I woke up the next morning thinking about this, and the rest as they say is history.

Did reading doughnut french toast conjure up images of fried doughnut halves? These are indulgent but not that indulgent. They are your regular French toast and here’s where the ‘doughnut’ part comes in  – after the bread is fried in the pan, you dredge them in a sugar-cinnamon mix like a sugared doughnut. It’s important to do this when they’re still hot, since the sugar and cinnamon both stick to the bread better that way.

The strawberry sauce couldn’t be simpler. You bung the berries into a blender with some powdered sugar, blend, and it’s ready to serve. Near-instant! Although the strawberry sauce is not absolutely required here (there’s enough flavour in the cinnamon anyway to eat them as is), I like the tang. It offsets the sweetness of the French toast.

If you were making regular French toast, you’d add sugar to the eggy mixture that you’d dunk the bread into. Leave them out in this case since they get their cinnamon sugar coating afterward. I like to keep things fairly sane in the sugar department although I called this indulgent – add just enough sugar to sweeten the sauce without making it cloying and dessert-y.

DOUGHNUT FRENCH TOAST WITH STRAWBERRY SAUCE

Servings: 2 people

Ingredients

  • 6 slices of bread
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 25 grams butter, for frying

Dredging:

  • 3 tbsp caster sugar (see notes)
  • 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Strawberry sauce:

  • 200 grams strawberries (fresh or frozen)
  • 2 tbsp powdered sugar

Instructions

  • If using frozen strawberries, thaw before using. Once thawed, add to a colander and get rid of all the excess liquid from them. If using fresh, chop them up roughly.
  • Blend strawberries and powdered sugar together. This is your near-instant sauce. Set aside.
  • Mix the caster sugar and ground cinnamon together on a plate and set aside.
  • Whisk the milk and eggs in a wide shallow bowl. I halve the bread on the diagonal but you can leave them whole if you prefer.
  • Divide the butter into small pieces. Heat one small knob of butter in a pan.
  • Dunk the bread in the egg and milk mixture. Turn them a few times in the bowl to make sure they’re not dry on the inside. Add to the pan. Fry until golden on both sides. Dredge the bread in the sugar-cinnamon coating when they’re still hot.
  • Repeat for the rest of the slices adding a knob of butter to the pan each time you fry the bread. Serve with the strawberry sauce.

Notes

Adapted from Nigella Lawson.
I used whole wheat bread, but any kind will do.
Caster sugar is basically finely milled sugar. If you don’t have this, just blend regular sugar to smaller granules and use.
If you can’t find strawberries, substitute with mangoes or other fresh/frozen berries.

 

 

 

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