Add a little slice of heaven to your Saturday mornings with a serving of cinnamon brioche French toast made with fluffy brioche bread coated in a sweet cinnamon custard drizzled with honey syrup. For extra special occasions, serve with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream on top!
A delicious twist on a breakfast classic, this Honey Cinnamon French Toast recipe was developed to mimic the flavor of a favorite dessert item, Grilled Stickies, from the restaurant chain, Eat ‘n Park, popular in the Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia area.
This is one of a few creative ways I’ve come up with for French toast. If you’ve ever had my slow cooker French toast casserole or Hawaiian rolls French toast, you’ll know how many ways you can jazz up the original!
Cinnamon brioche French toast is made with soft buttery brioche bread dipped in a sweet cinnamon egg mixture and pan-fried until golden on both sides. Drenched in honey caramel syrup, the results are just as much a dessert as a special kind of breakfast!
The natural sweetness of the raw honey paired with loads of cinnamon is a perfect, cozy, and comforting start to any day. It’s easy to make and works with any thick bread, although the extra butter in brioche makes it my first choice. You can also adjust the amount of honey or cinnamon to your liking.
Perfect for sleepover guests, special occasion brunches, Sunday mornings, or whenever you’re craving something sweet!
Brioche French Toast with Honey Caramel
Why you’ll love this recipe
- You can make a batch in under 30 minutes.
- It’s delicious! The honey, cinnamon, and butter flavors shine.
- It’s an easy way to serve and impress your guests!
- The honey caramel syrup is a bonus. You can use whatever sauce you like!
Helpful Tools
Ingredients
Below is a list of the ingredients you’ll need to gather to make this recipe, why you need them, and possible substitutions. Scroll all the way down for the full recipe card with measurements.
Jump- Large eggs: Bring your eggs out to room temperature beforehand, so the mixture isn’t cold once it hits the pan.
- Heavy cream: Gives the eggs a creamy, custard-like consistency.
- Cinnamon, vanilla extract, and honey: For the best flavor. I use unfiltered, unpasteurized honey here, but you can use whatever honey you have on hand.
- Unsalted butter: You’ll need some for pan-frying the bread and extra for adding between batches.
- Brioche bread: Like a cross between a pastry and bread, brioche is made with eggs, butter, and sugar so it’s richer and sweeter than regular bread.
- For the sauce: Honey, unsalted butter, heavy cream, cinnamon, and salt.
Brioche bread generally costs more than other kinds (because of the amount of butter used to make it), so if that’s not in your budget, you can certainly use any thicker sliced bread.
How to make Cinnamon Brioche French Toast
This section shows you how to make this recipe, with process photos showing the steps to help you visualize it. For full instructions, including amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card below.
Jump- Step One: Whisk the sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat until gently simmering. Turn off the heat, but keep it on the burner so the butter stays melted and the mixture keeps warm.
- Step Two: Grab a baking dish that’s slightly bigger than a slice of bread. In it, add the eggs, cream, cinnamon, vanilla, and honey, and whisk to combine.
- Step Three: Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat (you could even start at medium-low). Dredge a slice of bread into the egg mixture and flip it over so both sides are coated well.
- Step Four: Place the bread down into the heated skillet. If you have room to add one more without overlapping, go for it. Cook for 1-2 minutes per side, until the outside of the bread is golden and there are no signs of uncooked egg mixture.
- Step Five: Repeat with the remaining bread slices, adding butter between each batch. Serve with a drizzle of warm honey syrup!
How to serve it
Here’s where the fun begins! Pouring honey caramel sauce on top is my favorite way to go, but it’s not the only way. You can always go the traditional route of using maple syrup with or without a dusting of powdered sugar.
You can also serve it with some fresh berries or sliced bananas on top, a fruit compote, or a dollop of whipped cream.
If you’re serving this as a dessert, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top before you drizzle with syrup.
- To keep the toast warm as you work through the batches, place them on a baking sheet in and keep them in the oven at 200°F.
- You want to use thick bread that won’t get soggy as it soaks up a bit of the custard coating.
- Keep an eye on the heat of the skillet. If it’s too high, the butter will burn before the bread gets flipped to the second side. Turn the heat down if necessary. Your first batch may be a test run!
- If your butter does burn, wipe it clean before starting again.
Storage & Reheating
How to store leftovers
Keep any leftover slices of brioche French toast in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. They will inevitably become soggy, but they do reheat well.
You can also keep the honey syrup stored in a little jar in the fridge and reheat it just before serving.
Reheating Instructions
You can pop these right into the toaster to warm up, which is great if you’re only reheating a slice or two. If you have more than that, place them on a baking sheet and reheat them in the oven at 300°F for 10-15 minutes.
Need more breakfast recipes? Try these:
Slow Cooker Tater Toss Breakfast Casserole
Ham and Potato Breakfast Casserole
Click here to view my entire collection of breakfast recipes.
Did You Make This?
If you made this recipe, I’d love to know how it went in the comments section below.
You can also tag me on Instagram – @melissa_ppplates or share a pic in the Persnickety Plates Community Facebook group. I love seeing what you’ve tried!
Honey Cinnamon Brioche French Toast with Honey Caramel Syrup
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- ½ cup honey
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¼ cup heavy cream or whole milk
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the French Toast
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- ½ cup heavy cream or whole milk, at room temp
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup honey
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 8 slices brioche bread
Instructions
To make the Honey Caramel Syrup
- In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, whisk together the honey, butter, cream, cinnamon and salt until gently simmering.1/2 cup honey, 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, ¼ cup heavy cream, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Turn off the heat but let pan remain on the burner to keep warm as you prepare the toast.
To make the French Toast
- In a medium-sized baking dish (one slightly larger than the size of the bread slices), whisk together the eggs, cream, cinnamon, vanilla, and honey.4 large eggs, ½ cup heavy cream, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ cup honey
- Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet, over medium to medium-low heat.4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- Dredge one slice of bread at a time in the egg mixture, making sure to coat both sides well.8 slices brioche bread
- Place into the heated skillet. If the skillet is large enough, add additional dredged slices, not overlapping.
- Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, until bread is no longer ‘wet’ and turns golden. Set aside.
- Repeat steps 2 through 5 for the remaining slices. (Mix custard each time before dredging.)
- Transfer the warm honey syrup to a gravy boat for serving.
Notes
- I prefer to use raw unfiltered honey, if available.
- To keep the toast warm as you continue cooking the additional slices, place them on a baking sheet in a warm oven at 200°F.
- Brioche bread works well because it’s sturdy, rich and buttery (Trader Joe’s makes a great brioche loaf). That said, this recipe will work with any type of thick cut bread that will hold up under the heavy custard coating.
- If the heat is too high while cooking the toast, the butter will burn before the first side is toasted. Monitor the first batch closely and adjust the heat as needed but typically medium-low works fine. If the butter does char in the skillet and leaves black debris, carefully wipe it clean between batches with a paper towel.
- For an extra decadent breakfast (dessert?), add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of a slice of french toast before drizzling on the honey syrup.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Slices can be reheated by using a toaster or placing on a baking sheet in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 300°F.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
