French Toast Skewers

This recipe is a fun twist on the traditional french toast. It is really fun and interactive because you can make the french toast cubes ahead of time, reheat them and get everyone to make their own french toast skewers!!

It is a fun thing to do with kids but I have also done a bridal brunch in which we had these and they were an absolute hit with everyone!!

You can use any fruit or even marshmallows and chocolate for an extra treat.

French Toast Cubes

- 4 Slices thick old white bread (cut into roughly 6 cubes - 24 cubes in total) (optional to remove crusts) The more stale, the better consistency of the final toast.

- 2 Eggs room temperature

- 2 Tbsp icing sugar

- 2/3 cup milk (I'm using whole fat milk, you can use any milk you desire)

- 1 tsp cinnamon

- 1 pinch nutmeg

- 1 tsp vanilla extract / essence

- 2-3 Tbsp butter or more for frying

Cinnamon sugar

- 1/4 cup caster sugar

- 1 Tbsp cinnamon

Toppings

- Any fruit (I'm using banana, kiwifruit, strawberries and blueberries)

- Icing sugar

- Maple syrup

- Wire cooling rack

- Frying pan

- Mixing bowl

- Wooden skewers

- Bread knife

- Chopping board

- Whisk

Take the milk, eggs, vanilla, icing sugar and spices and place into a bowl and whisk together until combined. And yes by this point it should smell absolutely irresistible!!

Now take your stale(ish) bread and cut it into large cubes (I recommend 3-4cm cubes) it depends on how many skewers you want to make. If you are making mini skewers I would recommend smaller cubes. But I am making full skewers that will have about 3 cubes of toast each.

Now you can use pre-made cinnamon sugar, if not simply mix together the sugar and cinnamon until mixed through. Put aside whilst you fry your bread.

Now very important to do this quickly, take about 3-4 cubes of bread and dunk them in the egg mixture you made before. Hold the bread in the egg mixture for about 2-3 seconds (be careful if your bread is fresh and soft you would just want to dunk it quickly to prevent too much liquid being absorbed as this can result in soggy french toast).

Then heat your butter in a frying pan on medium-high heat and place your 'dunked' cubes in the hot butter. Allow these to cook for about 30 seconds per side or until golden brown on each side.

As soon as your cubes have finished frying, coat them all around in your cinnamon sugar. You want to do this whilst the cubes are hot because this will stick more sugar to the cube. This is why you want to do this in small batches because you want to coat them as soon as possible otherwise the sugar will not coat as well.

Once coated place it on a wire cooling rack.

If making ahead of time:

1. At this point, you can let these sit and then reheat for later if only waiting an hour or so they can be placed in the fridge on some paper towel until ready to use. Then reheat in an oven at 180 degrees Celcius (355 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 5 minutes until warm through and crisped up.

2. You can also freeze these at this point if needed the day before (this prevents it from going soggy). So you could make these ahead of time and then when ready reheat in an oven at 180 degrees Celcius (355 degrees Fahrenheit) for a little longer (5-10minutes) until heated through and crisp.

Now depending on what you prefer, cut your fruit to your desired size. I am using banana, strawberries, blueberries and kiwifruit, A RAINBOW of colour.

Now at this point, This is where you can get everyone involved, this is one of my favourite things to do for a brunch with friends. You prepare it and all sit around making your own combinations of fruity french toast.

If you are making these in advance I would recommend sprinkling some icing sugar over the top before serving with some maple syrup on the side!