French toast

French toast

Crispy French toast with cheese is perfect for mornings when you have time to treat yourself to a breakfast that is a little out of the ordinary. Our recipe for French toast with fresh blueberries and creamy cheese is as quick and easy to prepare as it is delicious. Give the crispy breakfast treat a try next time you are in the mood for something special that is both sweet and savoury – and, of course, irresistibly full of melted cheese!
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Instructions

  • Beat eggs, ground cardamom, and salt together and pour the mixture into a deep plate.
  • Melt half of the butter in a pan at high heat. Make sure it does not brown.
  • Soak the white bread slices in the egg mixture and sprinkle one side with half of the sugar.
  • Cook the slices on their sugared side in the melted butter until they are golden.
  • Sprinkle sugar onto the other side, flip over the slices of bread, and place a slice of cheese on top. Add the remaining butter to the pan and cook the other side of the bread until they are golden brown as well.
  • Remove the golden-brown bread slices from the pan and sauté the blueberries.
  • Place the blueberries between the pan-fried slices of bread, sprinkle the toast with chopped hazelnuts, and serve immediately.
Enjoy!
Tips

The best tip for making crispy French toast with cheese that is golden brown, slightly crunchy on the outside, and soft and chewy on the inside is to soak and fry the bread correctly. Allow for the bread slices to soak in the flavoured egg mixture for one minute on each side to let it soak up all the cardamom goodness. Before transferring the slices to the warm pan with melted butter, briefly let any excess egg mixture drip off so it is not too soggy.

Tips

You may also have been wondering how long to cook French toast on each side to turn the soaked eggy bread crispy and golden brown without burning it or drying it out. While the exact time depends on how hot your pan is, it will probably take 5-8 minutes to fry the bread on medium-to-medium-high heat. Try frying the bread for 3-4 minutes on each side at medium heat to avoid burning it.

Tips

If you are doubling or tripling the recipe to prepare breakfast for friends and family, make sure not to fry too many slices of soaked bread at a time. You can keep any finished toast warm in the oven while you make more.

Questions about French toast

Making French toast with cheese is incredibly simple with our quick and easy recipe. To learn more about the sweet breakfast dish, read our answers to the most frequently asked questions below.

What is French toast?
French toast recipes date back to the Roman Empire. It consists of pan-fried bread slices that have been soaked in a sweet or savoury egg mixture flavoured with spices like cardamom, cinnamon, or nutmeg, and sprinkled with sugar to get a caramelised surface. Most consider it a sweet breakfast or brunch dish, but it can also be served as dessert if you prefer.
How to make French toast?
French toast with cheese and blueberries is a perfect way to start the weekend and it requires almost no effort. Soak the bread slices in an egg mixture with cardamom and sprinkle one side with sugar. Fry the sugared side until it is nice and golden brown. Before flipping the bread over, sprinkle the other side with sugar too. After flipping, fry the bread perfectly golden as the cheese melts on top. Sauté the blueberries to warm them up. Place them inside the toast and sprinkle them with hazelnuts for some crunch. Enjoy the breakfast delights while they are still hot.
What is the best bread for French toast?
The best bread for French toast includes white bread and brioche bread. There is no need to use freshly bought or baked bread to make this breakfast delight, as this dish is a wonderful way to give stale bread new life by soaking it in a flavourful egg mixture and frying it to golden perfection. Though it is not as common, some people also like using more flavourful bread types like rye or sourdough bread.
What to serve with French toast?
In our simple French toast recipe, we suggest making the classic breakfast dish with cheese, blueberries, and hazelnuts for a sweet and savoury flavour profile with plenty of crunch. This pan-fried breakfast may be served with additional berries and fruit for more freshness, more nuts for added crunch, or different sauces, syrups, and jams for additional sweetness. Popular choices include honey, maple syrup, berry syrup, or bourbon syrup, and sauces flavoured with salted caramel and cinnamon.
How to reheat French toast?
You can reheat French toast in a few different ways. Cover it with aluminium foil and warm it in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 200°C (regular oven). You can also use a toaster, but make sure not to burn the bread. Finally, you can choose to reheat them in the microwave for about 30 seconds. This may be the perfect solution for busy mornings where you want to enjoy the breakfast delights you have prepared in advance.
How long does French toast last in the fridge?
If properly stored, French toast should keep for 2-3 days in the fridge. Store them in an airtight container or a glass storage dish. Make sure not to cover them with any liquid like sauce, syrup, or liquid honey before storing them in the fridge as this will shorten their shelf life and make crisping them up upon a reheat more difficult. The same goes for the sautéed blueberries; if possible, do not add the berries if you know you will store leftovers in the fridge as the juices may make it soggy.
Can you freeze French toast?
Freezing French toast in freezer bags or airtight containers is entirely possible. Simply let it cool and cover it in cling film or aluminium foil. It freezes best if you freeze it without any toppings or fillings and prepare these fresh after thawing the bread overnight in the fridge. Keep it in the freezer for 1-2 months to ensure the best quality in flavour and texture; it might be less if you have used stale bread.

Ingredients

Eggs
2
Ground cardamom seeds
1 tsp
Coarse salt
½ tsp
Butter
25 g
White bread
4 slices
Sugar
4 tsp
Havarti cheese slices
4
Blueberries (approx. 1 dl)
75 g
Coarsely chopped hazelnuts (approx. 1 dl)
50 g

French toast with blueberries and cheese

A French toast breakfast is a decadent way to start the day and our rendition of the classic breakfast dish is no different. Sweet and savoury, our pan-fried French toast with cheese is beautifully golden and crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, hiding multiple delicious surprises.

The combination of melted grilled cheese and warm blueberries makes for a delightful French toast filling. The sweetness and freshness of the lightly sautéed blueberries work beautifully with the creamy buttery notes of the smooth and salty cheese. Its understated acidic notes provide the dish with a wonderful savouriness that suits the citrussy notes of the cardamom-infused white bread well.

If you would like to learn about other breakfast dishes that may be prepared in advance, we suggest checking out our recipe for overnight oats, which may also be made with delicious, fresh blueberries or our baked oats with blueberries and bananas.

Crispy and sweet toppings for French toast

Crunchy French toast is a true family favourite that is popular with kids and adults alike. To mirror the crispiness of the pan-fried bread we have chosen to sprinkle it with chopped hazelnuts and fill it with fresh, sautéed blueberries.

The crunchy hazelnuts have a sweet, nutty, and slightly earthy taste that works well with the sweet and savoury flavours of this breakfast dish. When paired with the sweet, caramelised bread, their nutty flavour becomes even more pronounced and delicious.

Flavoured with cardamom and sugar

Cardamom has a wonderfully complex flavour that is both sweet and spicy at the same time. This makes the zesty spice well-suited for sweet French toast as it provides it with a great herbal aroma and prevents it from becoming sugary sweet.

The best French toast recipe will instruct you to sprinkle the eggy bread with sugar before frying or broiling it. The sugar gives the toast a beautifully caramelised surface. It helps crisp up the bread and gives the dish its signature golden brown colouring, and combined with cardamom, it adds a delicious sweetness.

Experiment with the ingredients

Easy French toast variations include using different types of berries and fruits like summer-sweet strawberries or sweet-tart berries like raspberries. You can also mix it up with different crunchy nuts like almonds, walnuts, or pecans.

Our recipe for stuffed French toast with cheese may be varied in a multitude of ways, depending on what you have in your fridge and pantry. Even salty and savoury bacon works well as a crispy topping if you would like to experiment further with the savoury notes of the dish, and the smoky bacon flavour plays well with the juicy blueberries, too.

You can also play around with one of the more integral ingredients for French toast, namely the bread. Though this breakfast delight tastes wonderful with regular white bread or even toast bread, you can also make French toast with brioche bread for additional buttery sweetness or use flavourful, crispy sourdough bread for more bite and a tangy flavour.

Check out our recipes for white bread, sourdough bread, and brioche buns, if you are interested in using homemade bread to make these breakfast delights.