French Toast with Berry Butter For Two

This past weekend I had some leftover French bread that I needed to use up– what better to use it for than sweet, buttery, delicious French toast?? I wanted to spruce it up a little and remembered a recipe I came across on The Pioneer Woman‘s blog for a berry butter. Sounds difficult and time-consuming, right? NOPE, it took just a few minutes to create this buttery, berry splendor!

– 6-8 slices of Bread (I used French, sourdough is amazing with French toast as well, but whatever crusty bread you have will work)

– 3 Eggs

– 1/2 cup Milk

– 1 tsp. Vanilla

– 1 tbsp. Sugar

– Lemon Zest

– Pinch of Salt

– 1 stick Unsalted Butter, softened

– Handful of your favorite berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc. Fresh are best but I only had a bag of frozen mixed berries– I used mainly raspberries and blueberries with a few blackberries. I thawed and rinsed the berries before using)

– 1/2 cup Maple Syrup

– 1 tsp. Vanilla

– 1/2 – 1 tbsp. Butter

In a bowl, whip together the softened butter and your berries until just combined. The mixed berry butter turned out really good, but if you’re picky with your berries feel free to use whatever berries you’d like. If using frozen berries, make sure to thaw and then rinse away excess juices so you’re butter doesn’t turn colors completely! 

Spoon butter onto sheet of plastic wrap and form into a log; add a piece of foil around the entire log and twist the ends applying pressure to condense the log and make it nice and tight [insert ‘that’s what he said‘ joke here]. Stick your log into the freezer for about 20-30 minutes, then to the refrigerator. By the time you’re done cooking up the French toast, the butter will be ready to slice.

Luckily for me, my bread was pre-sliced, however your slices should be about 1/2 inch thick. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Dip your slices into the mixture until well coated on each side.

Heat a pan on medium-high heat and add a pat of butter to grease it up. Cook wet bread about 3 minutes on each side until golden. 

Remove berry butter from fridge and slice, adding to your plate of yummy French toast. Douse with vanilla maple syrup, sprinkle on powdered sugar and enjoy!