French Toast with Crème Anglaise and Strawberry Butter

Custard at home is scary. I followed a slew of TikTok tutorials on how to achieve a crème anglaise without accidentally scrambling the eggs during tempering, and I think I did a pretty decent job for my first try. For the French toast itself, I used thick-cut slices of homemade brioche - totally optional, and you can use any brioche loaf from a bakery. Just make sure it’s a few days old for an optimal textural experience. This brunch also features a melted strawberry butter over it, which takes about two seconds to whip together.

For the French toast

2 slices thick-cut brioche

2 eggs

1/2 cup of whole milk

3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of salt

2 tablespoons of sugar

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Powdered sugar for serving

For the crème anglaise

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup of sugar

1 cup of heavy cream

A pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

For the strawberry butter

1/4 cup of chopped strawberries

1 stick of softened, unsalted butter

2 tablespoons of sugar

Starting with the custard: in a saucepan, heat your cream, vanilla extract, and salt on medium-low heat to a simmer.

Whisk your egg yolks and sugar in a separate bowl until combined. It should be pretty thick.

Once your cream mixture is heated, slowly begin to stream into the yolk and sugar mixture whilst whisking vigorously to ensure the eggs don’t scramble or curdle with the hot cream.

Stream the cream a little bit at a time until all of it is poured from the saucepan.

Once combined and decently smooth, pour all of the mixture back into the saucepan and stir on low heat with a spatula.

The mixture will thicken over the low heat, and should coat the back of your spatula.

Strain the custard into a bowl through a fine mesh sieve to get out any lumps - you should be left with a smooth cream.

For the French toast, in a wide bowl whisk together your whole eggs, milk, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla extract.

Dunk your brioche into the mixture on both sides and place onto a generously buttered pan on medium heat.

Cook on medium heat until golden brown on one side, flip, repeat. Since the bread is slightly old, it’ll have a nice chew on the outside with a custardy interior.

The strawberry butter is simple. Mash your chopped strawberries with a fork until mushy, then add your sugar.

With an electric hand mixer, combine the softened butter and strawberries and beat on medium speed for 3-4 minutes.

The texture should be light and fluffy. I heated about a tablespoon of mine in the microwave to pour over the French toast.

Serve the French toast over the crème anglaise with the melted butter over it, then dust with sifted powdered sugar for a cute presentation.

You might have leftover crème anglaise and strawberry butter. I recommend storing in the fridge as both hold up well. If you want to get a little crazy, putting both over vanilla bean ice cream is never a crime, not if I’m the judge at least!