Ok I’m just going to come out and say it. I miss brunch!! I miss everything about brunch culture! The cute outfits, the bottomless mimosas and the good vibes between me and my girls laughing for hours. But what I probably miss even more than all of that is the food! Brunch food is so darn good! And living in LA is a plus because we’ve kinda made brunch a way of life! There’s so many different restaurants each with their own unique brunch style. I’m a french toast girl and have tried a bunch of different options here in LA. The best I’ve had was the crunchy french toast from Blu Jam café. I have literally been craving it since quarantine started! Since I can’t go to the restaurant right now, I decided to make it myself at home. Let me tell you this may be the best crunchy french toast recipe you will ever try!
Making this style of french toast isn’t much different than what you’re probably already doing to make french toast. You create a wet batter from eggs, vanilla and cinnamon and dip your bread in it. But instead of placing it directly into your skillet you first coat the bread in a crunchy dry mix made from plain cornflakes, sugar and more cinnamon. Now, the key to great french toast is the bread. My style of choice is brioche but you can use any that is a little sweet and thickly sliced.
The best part of this recipe is that it is super quick! I cooked up a batch of this french toast last week for a friend and all together it took no more than 30 minutes to make. I even made my own glaze to top it all off which was the cherry on top! This really is a copycat recipe for the Blu Jam Cafe version. Check out the full recipe below and let me know how you like it!
CRUNCHY FRENCH TOAST
Yield 5
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
FRENCH TOAST:
- 5 slices of Brioche bread (or any other soft egg bread, thickly sliced)
- 4 eggs
- 3 Tbsp heavy cream
- 2 Tsp vanilla
- 2 Tsp cinnamon (divided)
- 2 Tsp sugar
- 2 cups of plain cornflakes
- Powdered Sugar (to garnish)
- 1 cup of assorted berries (to garnish)
ICING:
- ¼ powdered sugar
- ¼-½ cups of milk
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- In a cake pan or pie plate, mix together the eggs, heavy cream, vanilla, and 1 tsp of cinnamon until well combined.
- Add cornflakes, sugar and the remaining 1tsp of cinnamon to a resealable bag and shake to combine. Using a rolling pin or other round object, crush the mixture until a coarse coating forms. Your mixture should not be powdery. Place this mixture in another cake pan.
- Grab a slice of your bread, dip it into the wet batter and then coat it in the dry coating. Be sure to fill in any bald areas so that the bread is completely covered.
- Place a large amount of butter into a cast iron skillet. Once it begins to sizzle, add your bread and cook on both sides until the crust is golden brown. Remove from skillet and place on a baking sheet. Bake the toast an additional 5-10 minutes until it reaches your desired level of crunch.
- While the toast is baking, combine the powdered sugar and milk to form your icing. Stir in your milk slowly adding more or less until you get the desired consistency. It should not be runny.
- Remove bread from the oven, cut diagonally and top with powdered sugar and berries. Drizzle the icing over the toast and enjoy!
