If you love it when sweet meets spicy, then this baked jalapeno blackberry stuffed french toast is for you! A fun, fast, and easy weekend breakfast recipe.
On the weekends, I am ALL about breakfast. But also . . . the easier the breakfast, the better, because I am also about sleeping in a smidge. ๐
I had started having mad cravings for stuffed french toast, and happened to have a jar of jalapeno blackberry preserves that my sweet Mom had sent me in a care package. (Yes, I’m 32 and married and have a house and still get care packages from Mom. I LOVE them.)
Our family has always been 100% in support of mixing your sweet and your spicy. (Check out snickerdiablos – our spicy chocolate take on a snickerdoodle.)
Thus . . . French toast + fresh blackberries + jalapeno blackberry jam + roasted fresh jalapenos = breakfast of the year. You can definitely fry this up in some butter, but because of the aforementioned penchant for easy breakfast recipes, I went for a french toast bake. (I can’t help it. Casseroles are in my mountain western blood.)
You may be tempted to skip the whipped cream cheese cream, but please don’t. It is the completer piece for your breakfast and offers a sweet, slightly tangy, creamy cooler in case you get any extra spicy jalapenos. ๐
I drizzled the pictured French toast with maple syrup, but keep in mind that the jam will already keep make your French toast bake pretty sweet! So I’d either go light on the maple syrup or try it without, first!
Stuffed French Toast Tips
If you’re using a bread that will hold up to soaking like challah or brioche (i.e., more dense than fluffy), then I would soak the bread at least an hour. The goal is to let the egg/milk mixture saturate the bread in order to achieve that custard-like texture.
Be patient baking it! The bread should be dry to the touch and the edges should be starting to brown. If the tops start browning before the eggy bread has finished cooking, then tent some aluminum foil over the top of the baking dish.
You can easily just make a couple slices of this same French toast or fry it up in the traditional manner! I think it’s better to cook French toast in butter (as opposed to oil), so after soaking the toast in the egg mixture, fry it up in a melted 1/2 tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium heat until the toast starts to brown. Fry the thinly sliced jalapeno off to the side in the butter and throw it on top of your French toast when it’s done!
mikaela | wyldflour
1 Loaf French Toast
Serves 4-6
Breakfast meets sweet and spicy in this baked jalapeno blackberry stuffed french toast!
1 hr, 15 Prep Time
45 minCook Time
2 hrTotal Time
Ingredients
- 2-3 tablespoons butter (for greasing the dish)
- 1 loaf challah or brioche bread (~ 1 lb)
- 1 jar (~ 8 oz) jalapeno blackberry preserves
- 6 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 2 tablespoons grade A dark maple syrup (or sugar or honey)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 1/4 cups fresh blackberries
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or sugar or honey)
- 2 oz cream cheese, at room temperature, cubed
Instructions
- Butter the bottom and sides of a dutch oven baking dish very well.
- Prepare the French Toast! Slice the challah into 1 1/2" thick pieces. Then slice each piece in half, almost all the way through, stopping about a 1/2" before the bottom. Spread 1-2 tablespoons of jalapeno blackberry jam in the middle of each piece, stopping 1/2" before the edge of the bread. (For smaller pieces, use about 1 tablespoon; for larger pieces, use about 2 tablespoons.)
- In a bowl wide enough for you to dunk the largest bread slice, whisk the eggs, milk, maple syrup, and salt well.
- Gently pinch the edges of each french toast slice together to seal in the jam. Dunk each slice in the egg mixture, soaking both sides for about 10 seconds total. Arrange each soaked french toast slice in the greased baking dish, standing it upright with the sliced opening facing up. If you have space leftover in the baking dish and want to fill the empty space, you can also slightly lean the french toast at a 45 degree angle as you line them up. Once you have dunked all the french toast pieces, pour the remaining egg mixture over the french toast in the baking dish. Spread the thinly sliced jalapeno and 3/4 cup fresh blackberries over the french toast bake. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for one hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Bake it! Place the french toast bake in the oven and bake 50-60 minutes until the top edges are browning and the bread is toasted (dry to the touch). If the top edges of the french toast begin to darken too early, loosely tent the french toast bake with aluminum foil.
- Prepare the whipped cream cheese cream! In a mixing bowl, beat the cold heavy whipping cream and maple syrup until soft peaks form. Add the cream cheese and mix on high for another 10-20 seconds. (If you cream cheese is still cold and hard, whip it separately and then add it to the whipped cream and whip again.)
- Remove from the oven and serve with the remaining blackberries and whipped cream.
Notes
I used Pepperlane's Blackberry Buzz Preserves, but you can use any jalapeno-berry preserves you can find.
You can serve with maple syrup and powdered sugar, but keep in mind that the french toast is already sweet from the blackberry preserves!
If you don't have a dutch oven, you can bake this in a 9"x13" baking dish. Just lay each french toast piece at a 45 degree angle, kind of leaning on the slice next to it, so that the french toast spreads out more and takes up more room. Start checking for doneness at 45 minutes.
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