Two years during Thanksgiving, I decided to finally try eggnog. I've heard mixed reviews, some fanatics, and others not so much. Much to my disappointment, eggnog was not what I had expected. It was creamy but almost too heavy, like drinking thickened sweetened cinnamon milk flavored. That was the last time I ever had the beverage, but I still find myself wanting to try eggnog flavored desserts. What can I say, my cravings have their own personality. I've made eggnog cookies and an eggnog coffeecake, but this time I wanted to do something a little different and incorporate it into my breakfast. It's the holidays so I'm indulging and going all out! Here comes eggnog french toast with maple butter and caramelized bananas!

Recipe

Print Recipe

Eggnog French Toast with Caramelized Bananas

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American, French

Keyword: french toast

Servings: 2

Author: Christine Ma

Ingredients

Maple butter

• ½ cup butter softened at room temperature
• 2 ½ tablespoon maple syrup

French toast

• 4 slices challah bread
• 1 cup eggnog
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon maple butter

Caramelized bananas

• 2 tablespoon maple butter
• 2 bananas sliced on a bias
• 2 tablespoon brown sugar
• ¼ cup rum
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• dash of nutmeg

Instructions

• Beat butter with electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add the maple syrup, mixing until well combined. Can be prepared up to 1 week in advance.
• Whisk together eggnog with egg, vanilla extra and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Dunk the bread in the eggnog mixture for 15 seconds, making sure the bread fully absorbs the liquid.
• Heat 1 tablespoon maple butter on a griddle or nonstick pan over medium heat. Place the prepared challah on the pan and cook until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side until golden brown, another 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and keep warm.
• Melt 2 tablespoon maple butter in the same pan over medium-high heat. Add the bananas and sugar and toss to coat. Remove the skillet from heat and pour the rum. Return to heat and cook until the sugar has dissolved, about 1 minute. Add cinnamon and nutmeg and stir to coat. Remove from heat.
• Top french toast with bananas. Sprinkle powdered sugar and serve.

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

Eggnog can substitute milk in almost any dessert to transform an ordinary dish into an extraordinary one. Eggnog custard, eggnog latte, eggnog cake, eggnog french toast, it can all be done. Since the eggnog is spiced with cinnamon and sweetened with sugar, it adds more flavor to the overall dessert or in this case, breakfast.

French toast is as easy as dipping bread in a milk base and cooking it on a griddle. Using my regular recipe for french toast, I simply swapped the milk for the eggnog - no adjustments to the other ingredients. Yes, it's that simple!

Of course, I couldn't stop there. To make this extra special for the holiday season, I cooked the french toast in maple butter and topped them with caramelized bananas. Oh and did I mention, the maple butter was also used to prepare the bananas. Can someone say, "yum"?

If you're preparing this dish for children and want a non-alcoholic version, substitute orange juice or water.

The sugar begins to melt and creates a sauce that coats the sliced bananas - my mouth waters just looking at these bananas.

Serve these eggnog french toast with eggnog on the side if you dare. Maple syrup isn't needed for this decadent breakfast since you have the sweetness from the bananas and the french toast itself. I'll admit, a lot of eggnog desserts are very subtle on the whole eggnog flavor, these are not. I could eat the french toast by itself, no bananas, no syrup; yes, it's that good. But paired with the fruit, it becomes spectacular. Good thing eggnog is only for the holidays or I'll be eating this every day!

For more breakfast inspiration check out this overnight gingerbread french toast!