May 4 2014

French Toast with Whipped Lemon Ricotta and Strawberries

Find the recipe card at the end of the post. Make sure to read the content as it contains chef tips, substitution options, and answers to FAQs to help you succeed the first time around!

Posts may contain affiliate links that help enable me to continue to provide you with free recipes. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my Privacy Policy for details.

Last Sunday I felt like French Toast for breakfast. Now for me to ‘feel this’ is a big deal as I’m not too big on foods like this. They just seem too heavy for my tummy even though those first 2 bites are to die for. Now I’ve shared with you several types of French Toast recipes from Stuffed French Toast to Savory French Toast Roll ups. This time I wanted something light and different. I wasn’t feeling the whole maple syrup thing. Now a few days prior I had made this amazing whipped lemon ricotta spread that honestly I debated on sharing because I fell that madly in love with it. Yes, I will confess – I was going to deny you. But you just don’t understand how incredible this spread is. Well okay you will understand because I’m sharing it and you’re gonna want to try it, you’re gonna fall in love with it and you’re gonna love me forever. LOL

Like honestly I thought about doing a post just on the Whipped Lemon Ricotta but instead I opted to go with how you can use this so stay tuned for more recipes featuring this amazing stuff! Anyway, back to last Sunday. While Prince Charming was in snoozeville I decided to make myself a proper breakfast instead of what I usually have – his leftovers from breakfast which consist of a few bites of toast (plain, no butter, no nuffin – gag), bite or two off egg and MAYBE a piece of bacon though that rarely happens. However I will make myself bacon. I mean come on, we’re talking bacon here. I need bacon like I need oxygen. I think I’d die without it!

Now normally when I make “regular” French Toast I add in brown sugar and cinnamon. They seem to marry beautifully with maple syrup. However this time since I wasn’t using the syrup and the topping was more citrus based I didn’t think the brown sugar and cinnamon would go. Therefore I opted for regular sugar and am thrilled that I did. The toast, when it cooked on the griddle caramelized a bit which made it just slightly crunchy but still soft enough you really didn’t need a knife to cut it. While the bread was cooking away I cut up a ton of strawberries. I had picked up 4 pounds the day before at Sam’s club for $3.50. Yeah, you read that right! These things were GORGEOUS and so unbelievably sweet. I *may have* snuck a quick dip of a fresh berry into the ricotta mixture. Oh dear sweet baby Jesus! I literally muttered “Oh My God” out loud!

Okay fine, damn it.. I’ll confess! I dipped about 4 berries in the ricotta mixture and did the happy “Mmm Mmm Mmm dance” in my kitchen. You know the dance I’m talking about as we’ve all done it at least once in our life. You taste something that is SO good that you literally close your eyes, do a little shimmy shake (okay mine may not have been so little as I was droppin’ it like it was hot!… um, not! If I did that I’d never get back up off the floor! LOL) because that food is so amazing! Yeah.. that’s what I did when I ate this with just a berry.

At that point I became super excited for breakfast… and okay another confession, praying slightly Mr. Fantabulous slept a bit longer cause I really didn’t’ want to have to share my breakfast. I know I’m a horrible wife but I just knew this was going to be amazing and I wanted to savor it all to myself. Now I know me and know how much I can eat. By looking at the plate that’s a pretty big portion (or a starter snack for the man) but by God I was going to give this thing the old college try!

Finally the French Toast was done and my plate was prepped. First off, let’s talk about the visual aspect. I think this dish is just visually gorgeous! Now granted I know squat about photography, settings and what not nor am I a designer. I just know what appeals to me (and I hope to you as well). This dish just awed me. The color contrasts just seemed to pop. It’s funny as I was going through the photos I was captivated by these. They, at least to me, were “pretty”.

Now normally when I create a recipe and do a photo shoot I will make a very small dish for me to try before I plate and set up but with this dish I went full tilt. This was my plate of food. I honestly think this was the fastest photo shoot I have ever done. Typically when I do a photo shoot, by the time I get to my food it’s either luke warm or cold. This puppy was still warm and toasty while the whipped lemon ricotta was chilled. I worked that fast! Click Click Click… Buddha needed fed!

Thankfully Mr. Fantabulous was out like a light and I got to enjoy this all to myself with closed eyes doing the Mmm Mmm Mmm dance. I was about a 1/4 of the way through this, and yes getting pretty full, when my darling husband paddled his sexy booty out to the kitchen. What started off as a yawned “Morning baby” quickly turned into a perky “HEY what’s that??? Do I get some? Let me try yours. Oh you’re not going to finish that.”… and off went my fork and plate to the bedroom with him. I sat there for maybe 15 seconds stupefied by what just happened but then just shrugged it off as part of the ‘norm’ in my house. LOL

So do yourself a favor and make this. Go grownup with this French Toast and move beyond the maple syrup standard and trust me, soon you’ll be doing the Mmm Mmm Mmm Dance in your kitchen too!