Summary
There’s a meme floating around the internet that asks you to rank waffles, pancakes, and french toast from best to worst. My answer really depends on my mood that day, but one thing remains the same – french toast is NEVER the worst, in my opinion. As much as I love french toast, I’m very surprised that this version, Honey Jack french toast, is my first blog post sharing one of my recipes.
This version doesn’t stray far at all from my regular french toast recipe, so if you don’t consume alcohol or just don’t have it on hand at the moment, no problem. Your breakfast/brunch/brinner (enjoying breakfast for dinner) will be incredibly delicious either way.
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Your Shopping List
Bakery
- Loaf of challah bread (or brioche bread – to make 4 servings you will probably only need half of the loaf)
Dairy
- Large eggs
- Milk (coconut milk, vanilla almond milk, or whole milk)
- Unsalted butter
Pantry Items/Seasonings
- Granulated sugar
- Ground cinnamon
- All-purpose flour
- Vanilla extract (optional)
Other
- 1/3 cup Jack Daniel’s Honey Whiskey (optional, Crown Royal’s Peach and Apple flavors also work well here)
Suggested toppings/garnishes
-
- Fresh berries
- Powdered sugar
- Whipped cream
- Maple syrup
- Fresh mint
- More cinnamon sugar (sometimes I sprinkle this onto the slices before I cook them and sometimes just on the finished slices, for an extra flavor boost. It can also be used instead of the cinnamon and granulated sugar in the egg mixture if you don’t have the two individual ingredients.)
Equipment/Tools You’ll Need
- Large mixing bowl or shallow dish (to mix batter and soak bread slices)
- Whisk
- Sift or fine-mesh strainer (optional)
- Cast iron pan (this is my preference, but using a regular or non-stick frying pan will work as well – final color and crispiness may vary)
- Cutting board and knife, if you plan on prepping any fresh berries and/or herbs to go with your french toast
How Honey Jack French Toast is made
The reason I and so many other people love french toast is because you get such a delicious end result from just mixing a few ingredients in a bowl and then soaking and cooking your bread slices.
This recipe is really no different. There may be one or two steps that not everyone includes in their preparation of french toast, but I guarantee taking the extra minute to include them is so worth it! Let’s get into the “mixing a few ingredients in a bowl” part.
The bread
This french toast recipe works best with a whole loaf of bread that you can slice into thick (1″) slices. Something that is porous and can soak up the egg mixture effectively. My favorite bread to use are challah or brioche. Now, yes, these will help you achieve french toast like mine, but it is absolutely not necessary. You can use regular white or wheat pre-sliced bread and it will be super tasty still.
I’ve even used pieces of pound cake to make french toast. If you want to experiment and use pound cake to make french toast, be careful to use a pound cake that isn’t as dense (somewhat porous) and give the cake extra time in the egg mixture to make sure the flavor is completely infused.
The cake may fall apart easily once soaked so keep this in mind and handle the pieces gently. Even if they break in half, you can still cook the pieces! You could even try making french toast sticks, and I’m pretty sure they’ll be 10x better than the ones I used to love ordering from Burger King!
As you can see in the picture, I cut my bread slices in half. It just helps when serving other people who might not want a full slice, with fitting more pieces in the egg mixture and in the pan to cook at one time. This is completely optional though. If you are using a large pan or flat griddle to cook your french toast, consider keeping the slices whole.
The egg mixture
Like I said before, french toast is super fulfilling for me because all you do is mix a few ingredients in a bowl, soak some bread and cook it. The final result is SO worth the 5-10 minutes of work it takes to prepare.
I use eggs, coconut milk (but almond milk and whole dairy milk also work well), ground cinnamon, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, and what whiskey I have on hand – this time it’s Jack Daniel’s Honey Jack, but I’ve used Crown Royal’s Apple as well. I hear the Peach flavor is delicious too, but I haven’t had it yet, so I can’t vouch for it officially. If you try it in your french toast before I do, let me know how it is!
Not a huge fan of eggs? Want to make this recipe completely vegan? No problem! The eggs add flavor and help to thicken the mixture, but they aren’t essential to having delicious french toast. Adding 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch to your “egg mixture” along with the rest of the ingredients (and a vegan alternative for the butter), will transform this recipe into a completely vegan dish.
Why the flour?
Adding flour into the egg mixture soft of makes it a very loose batter (technically, since there’s flour, milk & eggs) and you end up frying the bread pieces which adds another level of crispiness to the final product. The flour is sifted only to help it distribute more evenly throughout the egg mixture. There will be some clumps. IT’S OKAY!! Adding the flour in slowly and whisking vigorously will incorporate the flour enough to work its magic.
Cooking and storing french toast
After soaking your bread, you’ll want to gently wipe any excess egg mixture off each slice. This will prevent your french toast from being too egg-y once it’s cooked. I know we’ve all had french toast that basically tasted like cinnamon and eggs, and this small step helps prevent that. It also keeps the pan from collecting a bunch of liquid which will steam your french toast more than fry it. It will still be cooked, but the crisp edges will be harder to develop.
I use a cast iron pan for my honey jack french toast. Since stovetops and pans will cause the temperature to vary use medium-low to medium heat to cook and crisp the french toast evenly. Make sure to coat the pan with melted butter before you add the soaked bread slices and in between each new batch of french toast, if you’re cooking for more than 1 or 2. The butter helps the bread develop flavor but also keeps things from sticking while all that wonderful crispy, golden browning is happening.
While cast iron is my favorite for a lot of things, you can use almost any pan for french toast. Just make sure the pan is lubricated with butter and remember not to use too high of a heat or your bread slices may burn before the insides are cooked completely.
Storing your honey jack french toast
After the french toast slices are cooked and cooled, they can be stored in an airtight container and in the fridge for one, maybe two days. The bread will begin to stiffen after that.
To freeze french toast, let the cooked pieces cool, wrap in parchment paper and then store in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
Honey Jack French Toast
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl or shallow dish
- Whisk
- Sift or fine-mesh strainer (optional)
- Cast iron pan or skillet
- Cutting board and knife
Ingredients
- 1 loaf of challah bread, you will only need half, but you can make more of course
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup milk, egg nog is my preference, but whole milk, half and half, coconut milk, vanilla almond milk, or whole milk will all work
- 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 3 Tbsp flour, sifted
- 1/3 cup Jack Daniel’s Honey Whiskey, a little more than 5 shots, completely optional and can be substituted for any whiskey you have on hand
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
- 2-3 Tbsp unsalted butter
Toppings/garnish
- Fresh berries
- Powdered sugar
- Whipped cream
- Maple syrup
- Fresh mint
Instructions
- Slice challah loaf into 1” slices and then again in half. Set aside.
- Add eggs to a bowl along with milk, sugar, cinnamon, sifted flour, whiskey and vanilla extract (if using).
- Lay each piece of bread down flat in egg mixture for 10-15 seconds. Carefully flip each piece and let it soak for 10-15 more seconds. on each side. Remove pieces of bread of egg mixture after soaking and line on a large plate, baking sheet or tray.
- Heat pan (cast iron is preferred but absolutely not necessary) to a medium heat. Add 1 tbsp unsalted butter to melt it.
- Add a single layer of bread slices into the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on the first time. Reduce the heat to medium-low if bread appears to be cooking too quickly.
- Flip each piece when the bottom is golden brown with a crispy outside edge. Cook on the other side for 2 minutes.
- If cooking in batches, remember to add a little more butter and increase the heat between each new batch (if temperature needs adjusting).
- Finish with more butter, syrup, pecans, your favorite fresh berries or fruit topping, whipped cream, powdered sugar, etc.
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