Easy Baked Vanilla French Toast with Berry Sauce

 Easy Baked Vanilla French Toast with Berry Sauce is a dream brunch! An easy French Toast recipe, smells heavenly in the oven, and tastes crazy delicious! 

This is the easiest brunch recipe you’ll find. You do have to plan and start ahead, however, it’s almost entirely hands off. The only task to complete the day you’re serving this is putting the dish in the oven. It’s truly that simple.

And, have I mentioned delicious? Because it is. Very. Oven baked vanilla french toast with a “killer” berry sauce (as quoted from my sister-in-law). It’s a recipe you’ll make again and again. I know I have.

The berry sauce is adapted from a dessert sauce, with a very reduced amount of sugar, as in 2 teaspoons. I feel that it is a bit more justified when I serve it to Z & I. As usual, the babies loved this french toast in addition to all the adults. They got to try the toast once with berry sauce and once without, both were a success.

Feel free to change out the berries if you prefer strawberries to raspberries (or any other berry). I found the blueberries are nice in this sauce as their skins provide a natural pectin that gels the sauce together a bit. If you’re into a more running berry sauce switch out the blueberries for strawberries or go all in with the raspberries.

Need more brunch ideas? I still make this Breakfast Slab Pie regularly – it’s perfect for a group setting and let’s be honest, every good brunch comes with a great mimosa. This Blood Orange Mimosa is a favourite of ours.

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Easy Naked Vanilla French Toast

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 15 mins

 

This is the easiest brunch recipe you’ll find. You do have to plan and start ahead, however, it’s almost entirely hands off and the vanilla aromas are so good.  

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: French

Author: Samantha

Ingredients

Vanilla French Toast:

• 1 lbs French baguette (about 2 full baguettes)
• 2 tsp unsalted butter for greasing dish
• 6 large eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
• 2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
• 2 cups whole (3.25%) milk

Berry Sauce:

• 1 pint fresh or frozen raspberries approx. 1.5 cups
• 1 pint fresh or frozen blurberries approx. 1.5 cups
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbsp sugar or maple syrup

Instructions

Vanilla French Toast:

1. Two days before you serve this dish slice the baguette into 1″ slices on the diagonal. Spread out the pieces on 1 large or 2 small baking sheets. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and leave over night to dry out. This will prevent the toast from being soggy.
   

2. The night before planning to serve:

   Butter baking dish with unsalted buttered. I used two dishes, the first was 8″ x 8″ and the second was 8″ x 12″. If you have a larger dish feel free to just use one.

   Place your baguette pieces into your dishes.

   In a large bowl whisk together eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, cream, and milk. Pour liquid mix over baguette pieces. Cover and chill overnight flipping the bread once to ensure the bread has evenly soaked up the liquid.

3. Morning serving French Toast:

   Preheat your oven to 375° F. Once warm, cover dish with foil and bake in oven for 25-30 minutes.

   Remove foil and continue to bake for 35-40 minutes.

Berry Sauce:

1. Purée berries with water in a blender or food processor. Strain through a fine mesh strainer pushing liquids through. Discard solids.

2. Add sugar, lemon juice, and mix until blended.

3. Sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.

Serving:

1. Serve dish of french toast with berry sauce on the side*.

Recipe Notes

I also served this with maple syrup each time I made it, however, it was hardly used. It appears that the berry sauce was enough.

Adapted from: Bon Appetit, Baked French Toast and Fresh Raspberry Sauce 

Enjoy! xo