Baklava French Toast
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I posted baklava French toast on my blog a long, long time ago. It got a great response and a few people made versions of it on their own blogs, which made me feel super warm and fuzzy inside since at the time I thought my blog was read by about 7 people.
But the post didn’t really have much of a recipe, just a method. And that’s fine, but the picture was also terrible and I wanted to highlight this again, anyway, because I love it.
The basic premise is taking the nut mixture that is found in baklava and sandwiching it between two pieces of eggy bread. I use tsoureki (still had some frozen from Easter), but challah or brioche will work equally well. After a quick egg/milk bath and getting fried on the griddle, the French toast is then topped with a honey-simple syrup mixture prevalent in a lot of Greek desserts.
This is definitely rich and very sweet, so if you like those kinds of breakfasts, this is totally your thing. It’s a great way to get the flavors of baklava without doing all the work—and it’s a good excuse to eat baklava for breakfast.
Baklava French Toast
1 cup shelled walnut halves
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
slice of orange peel (optional)
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
8 large slices tsoureki, challah, brioche, or other bread (preferably 1-2 days old)
3 eggs
2/3 cup milk
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
butter
Place the walnuts, cinnamon, and cloves in a mini food processor and pulse until combined and walnut pieces are crushed.
In a small saucepan, bring the honey, water, sugar, and orange peel and cinnamon stick (if using) to a simmer. Simmer until thickened and syrupy.
Place about 1/4 of the nut mixture on a slice of bread, and top with another slice of bread. Repeat with the remaining bread/nut mixture. You may have a little extra nut mixture and you can just use it at the end as a topping/garnish.
Whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract in a baking dish or shallow bowl. Place the 4 “sandwiches” in the egg mixture and then carefully flip to soak the other side.
Heat a pan or griddle with butter and add the French toast. Remove the sandwiches from the custard and fry until golden; carefully flip and cook until the other side is nicely browned.
Serve the baklava French toast with the honey syrup (and additional crushed walnuts, if desired).
Love this, Elly! Making yiayia proud, no doubt. I want to make tsoureki doughnuts!
I missed this the first time you posted this because believe me I would have remembered it! I love baklava and this looks absolutely amazing–just added it to my must make list!
Yum! I hope my family is kind enough to leave me some leftover challah on Rosh Hashanah so I can make this… on second though, I should set some aside before they chow down 😉
Sweet goodness, this sounds heavenly!
Omg I’m drooling. What a great idea. I missed your first post so I’m so glad you decided to share it again!
Oh heaven!
i had the best baklava of my life today, and now all I can think of is baklava!! This post was very timely. 🙂
I’m pretty sure I’ve never encountered anything baklava-esque that I didn’t absolutely adore! This French toast is most certainly swoon-worthy!
Wow…this looks extremely good. I love something like this, sweet and smell so good. Probably stuff some fruits like peach or avocado in between will be really nice too. 🙂
You are my culinary hero right now! I cannot wait to make this! I have so many childhood memories of my Greek side of the family involving baklava. Thank you!
What a fantastic french toast flavor!
This was heavenly and so easy to throw together!
Yay! So happy you liked it, Kelly.