Buttery homemade brioche French toast with a simple raspberry mint compote – add maple syrup and you have a plateful of pure breakfast bliss.
French toast has always been a favorite breakfast food for me – no fancy ingredients, no waiting for a dough to rise, no special tricks to learn to get it right. Just some eggs, milk and maple syrup and voilà – a dose of happy contentment is on your plate in no time.
But if you want to try something new, making French toast with brioche is an easy way to take things up a notch, and that gorgeous buttery flavor is just heavenly. Add some very simple raspberry mint compote and you have a seriously satisfying batch of breakfast coming up.
I know that making brioche the proper way is not something you could describe as easy or effortless (Have you seen the instructions of the Julia Child brioche recipe? It is the length of a short story!). And I know that there is a time and a place for doing things properly and slow and respecting the French culinary traditions and what have you.
But being the impatient being that I am, I bashfully searched the internet for a quicker solution, and found a great one!
This is the recipe I used and to my defense, it is developed by a person who has been born and raised in France, so just consider this an authentic variation of the original that will save you loads of time. The brioche turned out great and was definitely worth making from scratch!
I made the brioche the previous day so that everything would be ready for fuss-free breakfast making in the morning. The raspberry compote is very easy and quick to make and will give bold, juicy flavors and variation to the plate. Not to mention that it goes together with maple syrup magnificently. The mint leaves give just a hint of unexpected, fresh flavor in the mix.
This recipe makes enough for 6-7 slices of the best brioche French toast you’ve ever made. Make the brioche on a Friday or Saturday evening and have an awesome breakfast the next morning!
Brioche French Toast with Raspberry Mint Compote
INGREDIENTS
– 2 cups raspberries
– ¼ cup sugar
– 2 tablespoons water
– 3 tablespoons finely minced fresh mint
– ¼ cup heavy cream
– 3 eggs
– 2 tablespoons honey
– 1 vanilla pod
– 1/4 teaspoon salt
– butter for the pan
– maple syrup for serving
INSTRUCTIONS
1. The day before, make the brioche according to these directions. Store covered, in room temperature.
2. Make the berry compote: put berries, water and sugar into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. If using frozen berries, put in only 1 tablespoon water and let berries thaw in advance. Reduce the temperature and let simmer until sugar has dissolved, the berries have softened and the texture has thickened a bit; 10 minutes with fresh berries, around 15 minutes if using frozen berries. Remove from heat.
3. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the fresh mint leaves, reserve the rest for serving. Pour the compote in a serving bowl and set aside.
4. To make the sauce for dipping the brioche in, whisk together eggs, cream, honey, the seeds scraped from the vanilla pod and salt in a large bowl. Make sure to whisk thoroughly so all the honey will not be stuck to the bottom of the bowl.
5. Place a brioche slice into the bowl, turning once to completely coat the slice in egg mixture. Melt some butter in a frying pan and fry two slices at a time, turning once, until both sides are golden brown. Serve immediately with maple syrup and the berry compote; sprinkle a bit of mint leaves on each serving. Repeat process until you have no more egg mixture left.