cinnamon streusel french toast with fresh fig & vanilla syrup.
a sweet and easy breakfast that comes together surprisingly quickly; sticky, sweet figs in a vanilla-tinted syrup makes for the perfect topping on gooey, cinnamon spiced french toast.
Makes: 8 slices of toast and 1/2 cup of fig syrup Prep time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes
Another breakfast recipe! That brings us to 2, total, ever, in the creation of my blog, even including my old one. I’m on a roll!
I’m actually not breakfast-averse and in fact enjoy breakfast a lot, but have a rather peculiar breakfast taste. By that I mean: I eat either bacon and eggs, ground beef and potatoes, or country fried steak- and that’s it. Classic and savory. And consistent.
Should I elaborate on a ground beef and potato breakfast for a second? I really like slivered sweet potatoes, ground beef, and homemade pico for breakfast. Sometimes with peppers and onions, sometimes with spinach or kale. Most anyone would call it lunch, but I swear by it being a delicious breakfast.
So I should amend that the ‘peculiar’ part is that I hate sweet breakfasts. Pancakes, waffles, french toast, fruits- no, thank you. It’s just not my thing. Thank my dad for those genes.
Evan, however, loves a good sweet breakfast. As do most, including my mom, who I’m hoping to make this for on Mother’s Day this Sunday. So, when making a sweet breakfast, I say go big. The sweetest, gooey-est breakfast. This recipe is that. If you only eat french toast once or twice a year, I promise it’ll be good and you won’t even think about eggs and bacon (or you could serve those on the side, there’s no rules).
I’ve listed out some ingredient specifics below - there are a lot of ingredients here that make this special, but likewise lots of substitutions that make it easy for anyone, too. I really recommend doing the fig syrup, as daunting as it sounds- it’s pretty hands-off and adds a special (and pretty) twist to the breakfast. Promise!
cinnamon french toast with fig syrup ingredients
eggs: Eggs, a staple of french toast. I used four large eggs here: think of it as one egg per two pieces of toast. The toast is pretty thin, so if you’re using something thick like challah or texas toast, consider adding an egg.
milk: easy enough, and you can swap in a milk alternative like oat milk pretty easily. I used regular 2% milk for this, but I’ve found that oat milk especially reacts the same when cooked.
vanilla créme fraîche: You can substitute vanilla extract here; just use 1 teaspoon instead of 1 tablespoon. The creme fraiche is a really delicious option because it makes it sweet and moist; plus, tastes amazing on top of the french toast, instead of butter. I would not recommend using regular creme fraiche- it has a much more tangy profile than the vanilla. (though, I could see that being delicious, too)
cinnamon swirl bread: The swirl bread from childhood, right? That’s how I remember it. Try to leave it sit and get a little bit stale, if you can. This bread is delicious but thin, and a little flimsy when soaked in egg. I broke one of my pieces when lifting it out of the egg mixture. If you have the time, toasting the slices slightly first helps it soak up the egg and milk without falling apart!
cinnamon streusel: butter, flour, cinnamon, sugar. So easy, just mash them all together until you get a crumbly situation to sprinkle on the toast. You can sprinkle it on before or after cooking the toast, or both. If you sprinkle it on while cooking, the streusel will melt into kind of a cinnamon-crust. Which is also delicious, especially if you aren’t using cinnamon swirl bread.
figs: And the trickiest ingredient of all - fresh figs. Right around now, these pretty, juicy little fruits are perfectly in season and will be easy to find until about October! You only need a small package- about 8 figs. If you can’t find fresh figs, you can also make this recipe with dried- but part of the cook time will be spent rehydrating the figs, so plan to add 5-10 minutes to the syrup.
cinnamon french toast with fig syrup pairing options
This breakfast is mega-sweet, so to balance that I out I am recommending mostly savory options!
fried eggs, with simple salt and pepper and fresh herbs
bacon and sausage, especially with peppery flavors
canadian bacon, fried and crispy
peppers, onions, and crispy potatoes
bourbon based drinks, like a breakfast old fashioned, to pair with the cinnamon
french 75, because it is less sweet than a mimosa