French Toast Crostini
Your mom called. She wants this French toast crostini for Mother’s Day. Covered in cinnamon sugar and piled with whipped ricotta and raspberry, these are the perfect brunch pregame.
Bread
I used a sourdough baguette, and that’s all I really recommend. The tang from the sourdough goes SO WELL with the warm cinnamon and fresh whipped ricotta. And when you add the sweet raspberry and a little zip of mint…drizzle all that in maple syrup????? Hello????
You could really use any type of baguette, though. Just don’t let the slices dry out too much, or the final product won’t be as tender and chewy. As it’s written, the recipe makes a nice amount of crostini that yield a tender inside and deliciously crisp fried edges.
I guess the only problem with these French toast crostini is that they don’t have a shelf life. I tried to save some over just to see how it would go, and it was not pretty. Even when I scraped off the ricotta/jam mixture, the leftover crostini were soggy and overly tough/chewy.
Egg/Milk mixture
I didn’t get too fancy here, just a plain French toast dredge. The idea was to keep it simple to that the ricotta and raspberry had a nice clean slate, and I think it went really well.
You only need to dunk each side of the slices for a few seconds, since you don’t want the inside to get soggy. Arrange the soaked slices on a cooling rack set over a lined sheet pan to minimize the mess and keep any excess soak off of the bread.
Frying
Keep the skillet over medium heat so that the butter doesn’t burn. Depending on the size of the pan you use, you’ll need to fry the French toast crostini in batches to prevent over crowding the pan.
As they finish frying on both sides, transfer the done slices to a clean foil lined baking sheet. When all the slices are done, keep them on that baking sheet in a low heat oven while you whip the ricotta and mix up the cinnamon sugar. The heat will make sure the slices aren’t soggy in the middle as well as keep them fresh and warm.
Finishing & Serving
Toss the crostini in the cinnamon sugar while they’re still warm and let them cool for just a few minutes before adding the ricotta topping and raspberry jam. Garnish with fresh berries, mint and a drizzle of maple syrup.
Unfortunately, as I said before, the only drawback of these French toast crostini is that they don’t hold over well in the fridge. But I don’t think you’ll have a problem getting rid of them before then!
Print
French Toast Crostini
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 12–14 crostini 1x
- Category: Snacks
- Method: Stovetop, Oven
- Cuisine: American/Italian
Description
These adorable crostini are piled with whipped ricotta and sweet raspberry jam.
Ingredients
For the French toast crostini:
- 1 cup whole or 2% milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 TB light brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 10.5 oz sourdough baguette (usually found at the deli/bakery section of the grocery store), cut into 1/2 inch thick slices.
- 2 TB unsalted butter
For the cinnamon sugar coating
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 TB granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
For the whipped ricotta topping & garnish:
- 3/4 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, cold
- 1/3 cup raspberry preserves
- fresh raspberries (optional, for garnish)
- fresh mint leaves (optional, for garnish)
- maple syrup (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
To make the crostini:
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with foil. Set a cooling rack over one of the foil lined sheets.
- Combine the milk, eggs, vanilla extract, 2 TB brown sugar, salt and 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a wide, shallow bowl and whisk to combine well. Make sure there are no leftover egg whites that haven’t been mixed in.
- Place a skillet over medium heat and allow to warm up while you dunk the bread slices.
- Coat each baguette slice in the egg/milk mixture and set on the cooling rack baking sheet you prepared earlier. Repeat until all of the slices have been dunked and coated.
- By now the pan should be hot enough. Add the 2 TB of butter and allow to melt and sizzle. Working in batches, add the dunked slices to the skillet and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side. Begin checking for a medium brown crust on the slices after about a minute and a half. Repeat for the remaining baguette slices and transfer them to the second foil lined baking sheet after they’re finished frying.
- After all of the slices have been fried, remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the sheet pan of finished crostini to the preheated oven. This will keep them warm while you prepare the cinnamon sugar and ricotta.
To finish and serve the crostini:
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the brown sugar, granulated sugar and cinnamon together until combined and set aside. Use a large bowl to accommodate all of the crostini as well as the sugar mixture.
- In a separate bowl, combine the ricotta and heavy whipping cream. Use a handheld mixer to beat on high speed for 2 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Set aside.
- Remove the tray of crostini from the oven and immediately toss the slices in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Return the slices to the baking sheet and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Spread about 1/2 tablespoon of whipped ricotta onto each crostini and top with a teaspoon of raspberry jam. If desired, garnish with a fresh raspberry and a few mint leaves.
- Drizzle with maple syrup and serve immediately. These crostini do not keep well after the day they are made.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 crostini
- Calories: 169
- Sugar: 13 g
- Sodium: 217 mg
- Fat: 4.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 27.7 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 4.6 g
- Cholesterol: 25.3 mg
