Decadent French Toast Cups with Coconut Almond Streusel: The Ultimate Brunch Treat
Elevate your breakfast and brunch game with these absolutely irresistible French Toast Cups, featuring a rich, creamy custard and an unforgettable jumbo lump shredded coconut and almond streusel. These aren’t just any French toast; they’re individually portioned, making them incredibly fun to prepare and even more delightful to devour. Get ready to transform your lazy Sunday mornings into a gourmet experience!
Imagine your favorite French toast, but in a charming, muffin-like form, perfectly baked until golden brown, and then crowned with a glorious, buttery, almond, and coconut streusel. It’s a breakfast revelation that combines the best of a fluffy muffin with the comforting indulgence of classic French toast. If this doesn’t entice you out of bed, we’re not sure what will! These delightful French toast muffins are more than just a meal; they’re an instant mood booster and a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
At the heart of this extraordinary dish are generous chunks of crusty bread, deeply soaked in a luscious, sweet, and eggy custard. For an unparalleled flavor and texture, we highly recommend using challah bread. Its rich, slightly sweet, and brioche-like consistency truly pronounces that desirable eggy essence in French toast, creating a foundation that’s both tender and satisfying. And oh, that sweet, sweet eggy custard! Prepare for your taste buds to sing with joy. Topping it all off is a generous scattering of our signature streusel, loaded with sweetened shredded coconut and delicately sliced almonds. This weekend, breakfast is destined to be a sinfully indulgent affair that will leave your entire family, and any lucky guests, utterly delighted.
Why French Toast Cups are a Game-Changer for Brunch
Traditional French toast often defines a lazy Sunday morning, but these innovative French toast cups take that concept to a whole new level. One of their most significant advantages is their personal size. They offer individual portions, which are not only more convenient but also far more aesthetically pleasing on a plate compared to soggy slices of bread. Unlike conventional French toast that can sometimes sink in the center due to the weight of the custard, these muffin-shaped delights hold their form beautifully, maintaining a perfect structure from edge to center. This makes them ideal for entertaining, potlucks, or simply a special family breakfast where everyone can enjoy their own perfect serving.
These French toast cups also boast remarkable make-ahead potential, perfect for those mornings when you crave something special but are short on time. We often prepare the French toast base the night before, allowing the bread chunks to soak thoroughly in the rich custard within the muffin tins. This overnight soak is key to achieving an incredibly tender and flavorful result, as the bread has ample time to absorb every drop of the eggy mixture. While 3-4 hours of soaking will yield delicious results, allowing them to soak overnight truly maximizes the flavor and texture. The next morning, it’s a simple matter of baking them off for a quick 30 minutes, minimizing your day-of kitchen work. This planning ahead transforms brunch into a stress-free, delightful experience, proving that practical brunching and lazy French toast can indeed go hand-in-hand.
Choosing the Perfect Bread for Your French Toast Cups
As highlighted earlier, challah bread is our top recommendation for crafting these magnificent French toast cups. Its slightly sweet, eggy, and robust structure makes it exceptionally well-suited for absorbing the custard without becoming overly mushy, while still maintaining a delightful chewiness. However, your choice of bread is flexible and can be adapted to your preferences. Traditional French bread, such as a baguette, is always a reliable and affordable option found in most grocery stores. Brioche is another excellent choice, offering a similarly rich and tender crumb that soaks up the custard beautifully. Even a good quality sourdough, while offering a different flavor profile, can work wonderfully if you enjoy a hint of tang.
Regardless of the type of bread you select, there’s one crucial tip that applies universally: always use day-old bread, or at least bread that isn’t freshly baked. Stale or slightly dried-out bread acts like a sponge, allowing it to absorb significantly more of the egg custard mixture. This superior absorption is paramount to achieving that deeply flavorful, custardy interior that makes French toast so irresistible. It’s the secret to avoiding a bland, dry center and ensuring every bite is infused with sweetness and warmth. So, plan ahead and pick up your bread a day or two in advance – it truly makes all the difference.
The Secret to a Luxurious Custard: Full-Fat Coconut Milk
A traditional French toast custard typically consists of a simple yet effective combination of eggs, sugar, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. For these coconut almond streusel French toast cups, we took an experimental approach to elevate the custard to new heights: we swapped out some of the regular dairy milk for rich, full-fat coconut milk. This decision was initially met with a hint of hesitation, as it was an uncharted territory for us. To truly test its impact, we conducted a small “social experiment” without revealing our secret ingredient to Anees, my sister, or our neighbors.
The results were astounding and unequivocally positive! Every single person commented on the remarkable difference, noting that this French toast boasted a more luxurious, noticeably thicker, and richer custard. The decision was unanimous: the coconut milk provided a superior experience. Not only did it infuse the custard with a subtle, tropical richness that complemented the streusel beautifully, but it also imparted a velvety, more substantial texture that traditional custards often lack. This simple substitution was a definite “score!” and has become a permanent enhancement to our French toast recipe, transforming it from delicious to truly unforgettable.
The Unforgettable Coconut Almond Streusel Topping
As if the rich, coconut-infused French toast cups weren’t perfect enough on their own, the crowning glory of this recipe is undoubtedly the brown sugar and butter streusel. This incredible topping is speckled generously with sweetened shredded coconut flakes and an abundance of sliced almonds, creating a textural and flavor contrast that is simply divine. The streusel itself is a simple yet potent combination: a little light brown sugar for depth, cold diced butter for richness and crumbliness, all-purpose flour to bind it, and, of course, equal parts shredded coconut flakes and sliced almonds for that signature crunch and tropical nuttiness. When baked, the butter melts and caramelizes the sugar, transforming into delightful, crispy clusters that perfectly complement the soft, creamy French toast beneath.
The combination of textures and flavors in these overnight French toast muffins is nothing short of phenomenal. The creamy, luxurious coconut milk custard provides a tender, melt-in-your-mouth experience, beautifully contrasted by the tons of crunchy streusel crumbs. This pairing creates a symphony of sensations with every bite. While these French toast cups are wonderfully sweet and flavorful on their own, a light drizzle of pure maple syrup adds another layer of classic breakfast comfort. For an added burst of freshness and color, a handful of vibrant blueberries and tart raspberries truly takes this dish to the next level, making it not just a meal, but a vibrant culinary experience.
And for the final touch, don’t forget that delicate dusting of confectioner’s sugar! A light, sugary snowfall is the perfect finish, adding a touch of elegance and an extra hint of sweetness that all French toast desires and deserves. These French Toast Cups with Coconut Almond Streusel are not just a recipe; they are an invitation to indulge, to savor, and to create unforgettable breakfast memories. Whether it’s a special occasion or just a regular weekend, these individual treats are sure to impress and delight everyone at your table.
French Toast Cups with Coconut Almond Streusel
Easy and delicious French toast cups topped with an unforgettable jumbo lump shredded coconut and almond streusel. Personal sized, so these are fun to make and even more fun to eat!
Ingredients
- 12 cups cubed french bread (I used challah)
- 1 (14 ounce) can full-fat coconut milk
- 1/2 cup milk (cows, soy, almond)
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Streusel:
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup butter, cold and diced
- 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons almonds, sliced
- 2 tablespoons shredded sweetened coconut
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together both the milks (full-fat coconut milk and your choice of regular milk), granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and cinnamon until well combined and smooth.
- Generously spray a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray. Divide the cubed bread evenly among the muffin cups, filling each cup generously. Carefully and slowly pour the prepared egg custard mixture over the bread cubes in each cup. Take your time with this step, as it requires patience to ensure even soaking. Gently press the bread down as you pour, ensuring all pieces are thoroughly saturated with the custard. Alternatively, you can combine the bread cubes and egg custard in a large mixing bowl, toss to coat, and then transfer the mixture into the muffin cups. Cover the muffin tray tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Allow the bread to soak for a minimum of 3 hours, and ideally overnight, to achieve the deepest flavor and most tender texture.
- When ready to bake, position a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Prepare the streusel mixture while the French toast cups are still in the refrigerator.
- FOR THE STREUSEL: In a small bowl, combine the light brown sugar, cold and diced butter, all-purpose flour, sliced almonds, and shredded sweetened coconut. Using your fingertips, work the ingredients together until the butter breaks down into small, pea-sized crumbs and the mixture is well combined. This creates those delightful jumbo lumps. Evenly sprinkle this streusel mixture over the cold French toast cups, ensuring each cup is generously topped.
- Bake the French toast cups for 25-30 minutes, or until they are thoroughly cooked through, puffed up, and golden brown on top. Keep an eye on the streusel; if it starts to brown too quickly, loosely tent the muffin pan with a piece of aluminum foil. Once baked, remove from the oven and let them cool in the pan for a few minutes before carefully removing and serving. These are best served warm, garnished with fresh berries (such as blueberries and raspberries), a pat of butter, and a generous dusting of powdered sugar.
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