Seems I have been put in charge of all the holiday recipe articles this year. When brainstorming recipe ideas, all of us agreed that we thought it a good idea to share a holiday breakfast recipe. Funny, because none of the Fischers or Wiesers have any Christmas breakfast traditions. We never had a special Christmas Day breakfast at our house, so I asked Mark if he had any good family stories about holiday breakfasts and he said, “No, we were always waiting for Jeanette to get up, and everything was in preparation for our big dinner at noon.” When I asked Jenny Wieser she said, “We just ate all the candy out of our stockings – it was the only day we were allowed to do that!” But she did have great breakfasts made by her mom every other day. One of her favorites was French Toast, so in honor of Jean Wieser, we decided to share a delicious French Toast recipe with you that uses our Bourbon Cranberry Preserves to give it a holiday twist.
We recommend using Brioche Bread in this recipe, but any sweet bread 1-2 inches thick will work well, such as Challah. The HEB Bakery also makes Cranberry Pistachio bread. It isn’t very thick, but that would make a great substitute, and it would really boost the cranberry flavor when paired with the preserves and the fresh cranberries. Here are a few tips and tricks to keep in mind for this recipe:
● Prepping the French Toast loaf ahead of time and storing it overnight in the fridge will add more texture and flavor. In the morning when everyone is opening presents, just pop it in the oven to bake.
● To cut the cooking time in half, pan fry the bread slices instead of baking them and add the same toppings.
● Have an air fryer? To make an even faster, crispier French Toast, fry for 3 minutes at 320 degrees F.
As Mark and I always say, take this recipe and make it your own. You can substitute any fruit and any type of preserve that you like. Share it with friends and family, and we wish you a very Merry Christmas!
Ingredients:
10-12 1-inch slices of Brioche Bread
3 eggs
2 tbsp Bourbon Cranberry Preserves
Fresh cranberries
1 ½ tbsp white sugar
½ cup almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
Nonstick spray/oil
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
2. Lightly grease a 9’x5’x loaf pan* with nonstick spray or any neutral oil.
3. In a large bowl mix eggs, Bourbon Cranberry Preserves, sugar, almond milk, vanilla extract,
and salt together until fully combined. Add sliced cranberries and mix well.
4. Carefully dip each slice of bread into the egg mixture on both sides and line up in the loaf
pan. Stand the slices straight up. Brush remaining egg mix on top of the bread.
5. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15-18 minutes
until bread is a crispy golden brown.
6. Top with cranberries, powdered sugar, whipped cream, preserves, or syrup!
*If using a 9’x13’ casserole dish, stack the French Toast slices on top of each other