A sweet Christmas breakfast: crème brûlée french toast with salted caramel

Enjoy a delicious treat to start your Christmas morning, salted caramel-drizzled Crème Brûlée French toast. Rich, festive, and decadent, it’s the ideal way to make your Christmas breakfast even better!

Crème Brûlée French Toast with Salted Caramel

Recipe by: Masego Mbonyana also known as @mealswithmasega on Instagram 

SERVES: 4

Ingredients

For the custard

• 1 cup of milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp
• vanilla extract
• ¼ cup sugar
• 4 tbsp cornflour
• 8 eggs yolks

For the caramelised toast

• 100 g salted butter, room temperature
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 2–4 cm sliced thick white brioche loaf

For the salted caramel

• ½ cup cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp butter, cubed
• ½ tsp sea salt

Method

For the custard

1. In a medium saucepan or pot heat milk, cream, vanilla seeds and scraped pod or vanilla extract over medium heat. Leave the vanilla to steep in the milk and cream mixture for about 10 minutes.
2. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cornflour together and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, add egg yolks and beat well.
4. Add the sugar and cornflour mixture to the eggs, and whisk together well. The colour will be light and no lumps should be visible.
5. Add a cup of the warm milk and cream mixture in a steady stream while whisking. Continue adding a cup at a time while you whisk
   until your milk and cream mixture is done. This is called tempering.
6. Pass the mixture through a strainer back into the same pot the milk and cream were in. Discard the vanilla pod (if you used one).
7. Place pan or pot on the stove on medium-low heat and gently whisk the mixture until it starts to thicken. Continue whisking
   until your mixture has reached a pudding-like consistency.
8. Remove from heat and let it cool slightly. Cover the custard with plastic wrap, ensuring to press it down directly on top of the custard so it does not form a skin on the surface. Place in the fridge while you make the caramelised toast.

For the caramelised toast

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. In a small bowl, mix together butter and sugar.
3. Spread the mixture in a thin layer on both sides of the bread, ensuring that you reach the edges.
4. Heat a large pan on medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot enough, place the bread slices in the pan and caramelise on all sides until they are golden brown. Once complete, remove from the pan and set aside.

For the salted caramel

1. Heat the cream in the microwave until warm and not boiling and
   set aside.
2. Using a large pot or saucepan over medium-low heat, place the sugar in one even layer. Do not stir or touch, it will melt unevenly, first around the edges and then the larger areas. When you see larger areas of sugar melting, swirl the pan around encouraging the wetter areas to mix with the dry sugar until all sugar has melted.
3. When the mixture reaches a nice amber colour, remove it from the heat.
4. Gently stream in your warmed cream whisking at the same time.
5. Whisk in your butter one cube at a time, and make sure the butter is fully incorporated before adding another one.
6.  Lastly, add the sea salt.
7. Serve warm on top of the crème brûlée french toast.

To assemble

1. Remove custard from the fridge and give it a whisk to smooth it out.
2. In a 25 cm ovenproof dish or pan, add the custard in an even layer.
3. Arrange caramelised toast on top of the custard, pressing it down gently to soak in some of the bread.
4. Place in the oven for 10 minutes, just to heat.
5. Remove from the oven, drizzle salted caramel and serve warm.

Recipe and images supplied. Originally published for print in BONA Magazine 

Also see: A fool-proof Christmas gift guide: Presents to wow everyone this festive season