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Gingerbread French Toast is the perfect holiday breakfast. It's loaded with amazing buttery warm spices and easy to make for a crowd.
This is not your grandma's French Toast! However, they are a perfect Christmas morning breakfast that will satisfy her.
This recipe is loaded with everything that gingerbread cookies, bread, or cake would include, but the secret sauce is the homemade cherry syrup we make to top these bad boys off.
If you've ever struggled with finding a great French toast recipe. The struggle days are over because you'll be making this recipe several times after the holidays are over.
Key Ingredients:
To make these marvelous gingerbread french toast recipe, you will need the following key ingredients:
Day-Old Bread
"Day-old" is a New Orleans phrase for baked goods prepared a day before. This is important for French toast. It would be best if you had bread dried out to absorb the custard.
Molasses
You cannot have gingerbread anything without molasses.
Warm Spices
Traditional gingerbread recipes include cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
Frozen Cherries
Using frozen cherries gives us the same fresh quality of fresh summer cherries. Plus, there's no pitting.
Sugar
I use two different sugars in this recipe: Imperial Sugar granulated sugar and Imperial Sugar light brown sugar. Imperial Sugar is one of the largest processors and marketers of refined sugar in the U.S., supplying high-quality products to food manufacturers, retail grocers, and food service distributors.
Cornstarch
Using cornstarch thickens the cherry syrup to the right consistency.
Ingredients for Gingerbread French Toast:
To make the best French Toast, you need a recipe that's tested and proven to produce deliciousness. Here's how you make these mouth-watering holiday French toast.
- Cherry Syrup:
- Frozen cherries
- Orange juice
- Imperial light brown sugar
- Kosher salt
- Cornstarch
- Zest of orange
- Gingerbread French Toast:
- Half and half
- Molasses
- Large eggs
- Imperial Sugar granulated sugar
- Imperial Sugar light brown sugar
- Ground Cinnamon
- Ground ginger
- Nutmeg
- Cloves
- Kosher salt
- Vanilla extract
- Day-old Bread
- Unsalted butter
- Gingersnap cookies
- Whipped cream
Common One to One Substitutions:
Don't have everything you need? No worries. Here are some of the most common substitutions for this dish:
- Feel free to use any bread you have at home. White bread, French baguette, Texas toast, or traditional choices.
- You can use any cookie as a swap for the gingersnaps.
- Feel free to swap out the frozen cherries to make your syrup for your favorite frozen fruit.
- If you can't consume lactose, use lactose-free milk in place of half and half.
- Feel free to use powdered sugar (confectioners sugar) to garnish your gingerbread french toast.
- You can always use maple syrup if you do not want to make the cherry syrup.
- Feel free to use cooking spray as a swap for the butter to cook the French toast in.
- To make a lighter version use cooking spray to cook your french toast.
How to make the best Gingerbread French Toast:
These are the steps and techniques you need to follow to make these superb French Toast.
In a medium pot add the cherries, orange juice, brown sugar, salt and cornstarch, stir to combine. Turn heat to medium, bring to a boil, simmer for 8-10 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and stir in orange zest.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together milk, molasses, eggs, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and vanilla; soak bread slice in the liquid mixture for about 10-20 seconds.
In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 4 tablespoons of butter, cook soaked bread for 1:45 minutes on each side or until golden brown on each side. Serve warm with 2 tablespoons butter, cherry syrup, 1 heaping tablespoon of crushed cookies, and a dollop of whipped cream.
How to store
If you want to make this dish ahead of time, here's how to do it:
Cherry Syrup – You can make the sauce one day or hours in advance and kept in an airtight container on the counter.
Gingerbread French Toast – You can make the french toast one day in advance and store them in an airtight container in the fridge. They will be good for 5 days.
Gingerbread French Toast Recipe Tips & Tricks:
Here are some of my top tips and tricks to help you make this breakfast dish:
- The key is using dried bread. If you only have fresh bread, toast it for 2 minutes to dry out the bread.
- Beat the egg mixture until bubbles form. The bubbles are a good sign that your custard is thoroughly blended.
- Maple syrup's top grade is A. This recently changed because years prior, the top grade was B.
- Make sure to cook the french toast over a medium fire, anything higher may cause the sugars to burn. Leaving you with burnt french toast.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about gingerbread french toast.
Turn your gingerbread french toast into a baked version if you want. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the dipped french toast into a buttered 9 x 13 casserole dish and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
If you're serving the gingerbread french toast to a larger group, here's how to keep it warm:
After cooking, place gingerbread French toast on a baking sheet and transfer them into the oven. They will stay warm for about 20 minutes. If you don't have an oven to keep them in, transfer gingerbread french toast onto a baking sheet and cover with foil.
The gingerbread french toast will be good for 5 days so that you can make them the day before your party. This way, they stay nice and fresh until you serve them.
Latest Recipe Video:
What can I serve with gingerbread french toast?
You can serve several things with these mouth-watering french toast; here are some of my go-to.
More Delicious Breakfast Recipes:
If you're looking for more easy recipes to feed the whole family, here's a list of a few great recipes.
- Sweet Potato Waffles
- Sweet Potato Pancakes
- New Orleans BBQ Shrimp & Grits
- Breakfast Casserole
- Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Gingerbread French Toast is a festive breakfast that tastes as delicious as it smells. It's perfect for breakfast, brunch, or even dessert! You can make this recipe with your friends and family to enjoy together around the holidays. The best part? This dish doesn't require any fancy cooking skills - you need some bread, eggs, and spices from your pantry! I hope you'll come back and leave me a 5-star review after making these tasty french toast with cherry syrup!
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Recipe:
📖 Recipe
Gingerbread French Toast with Cherry Syrup
Ingredients
Cherry Syrup:
- 16 oz. frozen cherries
- ½ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup Imperial Sugar Light Brown Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- Zest of 1 medium orange
Gingerbread French Toast:
- ¾ cup half and half
- ⅓ cup molasses
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup Imperial Sugar granulated sugar
- ¼ cup Imperial Sugar Light brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12 slices brioche or Texas toast day old or toasted
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup crushed gingersnap cookies
- 1 cup whipped cream
Instructions
- In a medium pot add cherries, orange juice, brown sugar, salt, and cornstarch, stir to combine. Turn heat to medium, bring to a boil, simmer for 8-10 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and stir in orange zest.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together milk, molasses, eggs, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and vanilla; soak bread slice in the liquid mixture for about 10-20 seconds.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 4 tablespoons of butter, cook soaked bread for 1:45 minutes on each side or until golden brown on each side. Serve warm with 2 tablespoons butter, cherry syrup, 1 heaping tablespoon of crushed cookies, and a dollop of whipped cream.
Notes
You can use any cookie as a swap for the gingersnaps.
Feel free to swap out the frozen cherries to make your syrup for your favorite frozen fruit.
If you can't consume lactose, use lactose-free milk in place of half and half. To make a lighter version use cooking spray to cook your french toast. Storage:
If you want to make this dish ahead of time, here's how to do it:
Cherry Syrup – You can make the sauce one day or hours in advance and kept in an airtight container on the counter.
Gingerbread French Toast – You can make the french toast one day in advance and store them in an airtight container in the fridge. They will be good for 5 days.
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