Possibly the BEST French Toast ever! Churro French toast equals thick slices of rich Challah soaked in an egg mixture and fried to perfection. THEN coated in cinnamon sugar and drizzled with cream cheese icing. Keep reading for my best French Toast tips and the full recipe!
Yield:
10 slices
Prep Time:15minutes
Cook:20minutes
Tessa's Recipe Rundown...
Taste: The mash up or Churros plus French Toast is spicy sweet PERFECTION.
Texture: The cinnamon sugar adds an extra crunch to the already beautifully golden crust. It's the perfect contrast for the fluffy yet slightly custardy inside.
Ease: Totally doable and totally impressive.
Appearance: Positively mouthwatering.
Pros: Arguably the best French toast I've ever had.
Cons: Clearly not an everyday breakfast.
I make this again? Oh YASSS.
When it comes to breakfast, I can be a little bit of a brat. Firstly, I HAVE to have breakfast every single morning otherwise I am majorly cranky. Secondly, cereal just won’t do. It’s so boring, unsatisfying, and cold. I might be the only person in the world who thinks that, but whatever.
When it comes to special occasion breakfasts, I am ALL IN. Breakfast food = heaven. My favorite breakfast is French toast.
French toast over pancakes ANY DAY. Who’s with me?
But I’m super particular with French toast too. I have French toast down to a science and have perfected how I make it. So when I saw Churro French Toast on my friend Chung-Ah’s blog recently, I knew I had to make my own version. I also knew I had to include alllll the French toast recipe tips I’ve learned over the years!
Churro French Toast Recipe Tips
Don’t let all that I’ve written below intimidate you. This really is quite a simple recipe. I just want to always give you all the information you need to be successful in the kitchen, and to answer any questions you might have ahead of time. Plus I think it helps to really understand the details of a recipe so you can master it then really make it your own!
The Bread
The bread is clearly the base of any French Toast and should not be taken lightly!!! So that means no sad white sandwich bread here. My all-time favorite French toast bread will always be Challah bread. It’s already so rich and eggy that it really enhances the kind of light and fluffy yet custardy texture inside a thick slice of French toast. If you want a sturdier chewier texture, go for country-style bread or even Texas toast. Just make sure the bread you use is tightly crumbed, meaning it won’t have large holes or thick crusts.
The best and most classic French Toast is also made with stale bread. This allows it to hold its shape without getting to limp and soggy.
The Milk & Eggs
Use good quality eggs and whole milk and whisk really well, there should be no unincorporated pieces of egg yolk or egg white. You could use 2% milk but you’ll loose out on some of the flavor and richness. I mean, this is Churro French Toast. Not the recipe to skimp on! I always add in some special ingredients to boost the flavor, including orange zest, vanilla, and honey. Feel free to omit any of those or to get creative and put your own spin on the flavors!
As far as soaking goes, I find thicker slices of slightly stale Challah need about a 5 minute bath in the milk and egg mixture. This gives the slices enough time to absorb enough to be rich with a beautiful custard texture inside. Less time will give you a drier chewier texture. More time will give you a richer, soggier texture. A shallow pan works best for evenly soaking as many slices as possible at once. The older the bread, the longer it should soak.
Cooking the French Toast
You can use a griddle, but I actually prefer a pan because I think it allows for better frying in an even layer of butter and oil. That’s right, I said oil. We’re frying in a combination of butter and oil to get the best texture and the best flavor. The oil helps to seal and crisp the outside of the bread so the inside stays nice and custardy.
As you get ready to cook, get your bread soaking in the custard mixture as close to the pan as possible to avoid drips that will make a gross mess. Let any excess drip off before you carefully place it into the hot pan. Fry for about 2 to 3 minutes per side. I like my French Toast pretty well fried and crisp at the edges! My favorite tool for slipping and remove the French toast is a fish spatula, it’s thin enough to slide right under and doesn’t pick up and transfer a bunch of grease because it’s slotted.
Cinnamon Sugar
The cinnamon sugar coating is what gives this recipe its Churro flavor. Just be sure to coat immediately after cooking while the bread is still hot. This will allow the coating to stick and stay.
Keeping Warm
Keep the finished slices of French Toast warm in a 250°F oven. This little trick makes easy work of having everything come to the table warm and ready to eat without hassle.
4.67 from 3 votes
How to make
Churro French Toast
Yield:10slices
Prep Time:15 minutesminutes
Cook Time:20 minutesminutes
Total Time:35 minutesminutes
Possibly the BEST French Toast ever! Churro French toast equals thick slices of rich Challah soaked in an egg mixture and fried to perfection. THEN coated in cinnamon sugar and drizzled with cream cheese icing. Keep reading for my best French Toast tips and the full recipe!
Ingredients
For the cream cheese glaze:
4tablespoonscream cheese, at room temperature
1/2cuppowdered sugar
4tablespoonsmilk
1/2teaspoonvanilla extract
For the cinnamon sugar:
1/2cupgranulated sugar
1/4cuppacked light brown sugar
2teaspoonsground cinnamon
For the toast:
6large eggs
1 1/2cupsmilk
1teaspoongrated orange zest (optional)
1/2teaspoonpure vanilla extract
1tablespoongood honey
1/2teaspoonkosher salt
1large loaf challah, sliced into 1/2-inch thick slices
Unsalted butter
Vegetable oil
Directions
Preheat the oven to 250°F.
Make the glaze:
In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to beat all the glaze ingredients together until smooth. Remove to a zip top bag and set aside.
Make the cinnamon sugar:
In a wide shallow bowl, combine all the cinnamon sugar ingredients.
Make the French toast:
In a large shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, orange zest, vanilla, honey, and salt. Soak as many slices in the egg mixture as possible for 5 minutes, turning once.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter and 1 tablespoon of the oil in a very large saute pan or griddle over medium heat. Add the soaked bread and cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until well browned.
Remove the French toast from the pan and immediately dip in the cinnamon sugar, turning to coat completely. Remove to a sheet pan and keep it warm in the oven until ready to serve. Fry the remaining soaked bread slices, adding butter and oil as needed, until it’s all cooked.
Remove the warm French toast slices to plates. Snip a small hole in the corner of the zip top bag filled with the cream cheese glaze. Drizzle over the French toast and serve immediately.
I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)
About Tessa...
I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)
Gorgeous squidgy with a little crunch and very tasty. I used brioche loaf and cut into 1.5” slices. I cut a slot in the top and added a little hazelnut spread inside. I only soaked for seconds as my loaf was soft and fresh so very absorbent. Crisped up in the oven to keep warm while I worked through the batch for 6 of us. Made 12 slices in all and used all the custard mixture with this amount. Highly recommended.
I made this for brunch this morning, and my family loved it! I didn’t have any cream cheese, so I used just a simple powdered sugar glaze instead, which was just fine. Many thanks!
I loved this recipe, and so did the rest of the family which is saying something since they can never agree on food. I didn’t have any cream cheese on hand so I mixed the juice from the orange that I had zested with powdered sugar and drizzled that over the top. It was amazing, I love the little hint of orange all the way through. Thank you for the recipe! It will live on in our family forever 🙂
Tessa, this looks amazing! I LOVE French toast, but we have a significant egg allergy in our house. I have yet to attempt substituting with applesauce like I do in baking. I’m afraid it won’t be anywhere near as delicious. Any recommendations? Or, just write it off…
Oh no! I’ve literally never even thought about making French toast without eggs!! But I trust Dana’s recipe testing process completely so you might have some luck with this recipe here: http://minimalistbaker.com/basic-vegan-french-toast/
I disagree with you – stale bread does not make good French toast. Stale bread still has all its water in it, just bound into the starch crystals. Heat it up, the starch crystals “melt,” and all the water gets released into your custard. The best bread for French toast is DRY bread – I slice it the night before and leave it in the oven on a rack for air circulation, with the door cracked and the light on for that extra bit of warmth. In the morning, I turn the oven on to 170 degrees F (the lowest mine gets) for about 10 minutes, then let the bread cool before soaking it in the custard.
I like brioche for real special-occasion French toast, for that extra little bit of richness – it has all the egginess of challah, plus butter kneaded in!
omygosh, the orange zest, the cream cheese drizzle…the delectable challah bread. This is a birthday y treat for anyone !!
I gambled and whirred my cinnamon sugar for a minute in the Magic Bullet, and it was so delicate !! Then dusted the toast, flipped it gently, dusted the bottoms…
loved it all to french toast death…Thank God for children, or I would have eaten 5 slices !!
Thank you !!!
Heather @Bostongirlbakes
— January 22, 2016 at 9:43 am
Oh man this is a sinful combination! 🙂 And I totally with you on the have to have breakfast every morning otherwise steer clear of me! And cereal you’re right doesn’t hack it. This French toast though on a Sunday morning would definitely fit the bill!
taylor @ Food Faith Fitness
— January 22, 2016 at 4:30 am
I’m so with you! FRENCH TOAST ALL THE WAY! Especially if it’s french toast like this 🙂 This french toast is mouth watering and I could shove it in my face right about now 😉
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Gorgeous squidgy with a little crunch and very tasty. I used brioche loaf and cut into 1.5” slices. I cut a slot in the top and added a little hazelnut spread inside. I only soaked for seconds as my loaf was soft and fresh so very absorbent. Crisped up in the oven to keep warm while I worked through the batch for 6 of us. Made 12 slices in all and used all the custard mixture with this amount. Highly recommended.
YUM, Hazel, that sounds incredible!!
Is challah bread recommended? Or can I use a brioche loaf ?
Thank you! Excited to make this!
I personally love using challah bread, but brioche should be delicious too!
Nice recipe though I don’t get what it has to do with churros and why it’s called like that.
I made this for brunch this morning, and my family loved it! I didn’t have any cream cheese, so I used just a simple powdered sugar glaze instead, which was just fine. Many thanks!
I loved this recipe, and so did the rest of the family which is saying something since they can never agree on food. I didn’t have any cream cheese on hand so I mixed the juice from the orange that I had zested with powdered sugar and drizzled that over the top. It was amazing, I love the little hint of orange all the way through. Thank you for the recipe! It will live on in our family forever 🙂
Lovely, Jess! I’m so happy to hear that 🙂
Tessa, this looks amazing! I LOVE French toast, but we have a significant egg allergy in our house. I have yet to attempt substituting with applesauce like I do in baking. I’m afraid it won’t be anywhere near as delicious. Any recommendations? Or, just write it off…
Oh no! I’ve literally never even thought about making French toast without eggs!! But I trust Dana’s recipe testing process completely so you might have some luck with this recipe here: http://minimalistbaker.com/basic-vegan-french-toast/
Love your site, but what is the font you use. Looks like early. light dot-matrix and prints the same.
Mmmmm…..The Griddle Cafe in LA needs to add this to their menu!
I disagree with you – stale bread does not make good French toast. Stale bread still has all its water in it, just bound into the starch crystals. Heat it up, the starch crystals “melt,” and all the water gets released into your custard. The best bread for French toast is DRY bread – I slice it the night before and leave it in the oven on a rack for air circulation, with the door cracked and the light on for that extra bit of warmth. In the morning, I turn the oven on to 170 degrees F (the lowest mine gets) for about 10 minutes, then let the bread cool before soaking it in the custard.
I like brioche for real special-occasion French toast, for that extra little bit of richness – it has all the egginess of challah, plus butter kneaded in!
This looks amazing and perfect for a snowed-in weekend! Thanks so much for sharing!
omygosh, the orange zest, the cream cheese drizzle…the delectable challah bread. This is a birthday y treat for anyone !!
I gambled and whirred my cinnamon sugar for a minute in the Magic Bullet, and it was so delicate !! Then dusted the toast, flipped it gently, dusted the bottoms…
loved it all to french toast death…Thank God for children, or I would have eaten 5 slices !!
Thank you !!!
Fabulous!! Thanks so much for your comment. I just love when someone makes the recipe the day I share it. SO awesome 🙂
Oh man this is a sinful combination! 🙂 And I totally with you on the have to have breakfast every morning otherwise steer clear of me! And cereal you’re right doesn’t hack it. This French toast though on a Sunday morning would definitely fit the bill!
I’m so with you! FRENCH TOAST ALL THE WAY! Especially if it’s french toast like this 🙂 This french toast is mouth watering and I could shove it in my face right about now 😉