I love French toast. Bread dipped in egg and milk and fried golden brown and perfect with something sweet like syrup or savoury like bacon, it’s a perfect brunch or lazy dinner for any occasion. What I do not love is the name ‘eggy bread’ that many people use it for it. It sounds so much less like a treat or an actual recipe, so it will forever be French toast for me.
Where I don’t mind changing it up is to make a dairy free version of this dish. I’ve got slightly Caribbean inspired with Jamaican sweet bread, swapped out the milk for coconut milk, dipped it all in toasted coconut and served it with fresh pineapple for a lighter more springlike version of French toast and even if I say so myself, it’s fantastic.
Coconut French Toast: serves 2
- 4 slices sweet bread or brioche
- 4 large eggs
- 50ml coconut milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 100g toasted dessicated coconut
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
- fruit of your choice
First toast your coconut in a dry frying pan on a medium heat. Watch it like a hawk. It will stay obstinately pale and then turn from toasted brown just as you get bored and decide to go off and do something else. Take it off the heat immediately to prevent it from burning.
Mix the eggs, coconut milk and vanilla extract together in a shallow dish. Heat the coconut oil in a pan and place the toasted coconut on a plate. Dip each side of the bread in the egg and milk mix and then into the dessicated coconut where some of it will stick to the egg. Don’t over coat it or it will burn.
Fry the bread in the coconut oil until it becomes golden and crisp, about 2 minutes each side on a medium heat. Serve with your choice of tropical fruit. Either pineapple, mango or lychees work well and both the pineapple and lychees are still delicious if the emergency tinned sort when you want to stay in for brunch rather than stray too far from the sofa…
