Did you ever make a recipe based on random ingredients you had in the fridge?
I rarely go out of my way to buy ingredients for a specific recipe. Usually I browse the ingredients I have in my kitchen and make something up. Sometimes for inspiration, I dig up a recipe from a cookbook or my Pinterest account.
This was one of those recipes.
Some days I just wake up wanting to cook something! Being eager to post recipes on my brand new blog is also highly motivational.
So on this particular morning when I checked my fridge, I found leftover pumpkin puree and half a loaf of French bread. I plunged into my endless collection of fall recipes on Pinterest and found one for pumpkin french toast by Minimalist Baker. This was a large recipe, but I only needed two servings—one for me, one for my husband. My new single serving size ceramic baking bowls inspired me to make individual servings. I also adapted it to be dairy free, of course.
This French toast recipe is so yummy. I poured agave nectar on mine for a tasty syrup, but my husband ate his up without anything added. He doesn’t usually use condiments, but this tells me it was pretty good.
You can play around with this recipe to make it your own. Let the bread soak up the liquid longer if you like. Try a different type of bread, like sweet cinnamon raisin bread. Add extra pumpkin, or add some powdered sugar on top after baking. Try using some different non-dairy milks as well.
While you can use any type of non-dairy milk in this recipe, I recommend one that contains vanilla and spices. I used Silk Very Vanilla Soy Milk, but some other good options would be Silk Vanilla Almondmilk, SoDelicious Coconut Nog, or Rice Dream Vanilla Rice Milk.
I just made an amazing homemade oat milk recipe from ohsheglows.com. This oat milk would be great to use in any French toast recipe because of its vanilla and cinnamon flavors. I hope you use your favorite dairy-free ingredients and enjoy!
- 1/2 loaf French Bread (about 10 slices)
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ginger
- dash sea salt
- 1/8 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons agave nectar
- 2 teaspoons vegan butter
- Cut bread into cubes. I made mine thin, about 1/2 an inch.
- In a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients except bread and butter alternative, and whisk until combined.
- Add bread cubes into bowl. Using a mixing spoon, gently fold bread into mixture until just coated and allow cubes to soak up liquid for 10 minutes or longer.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Add 1 teaspoon of melted butter alternative into each individual oven safe bowl, or 2 teaspoons into the bottom of a nonstick loaf pan. This is important so the French Toast doesn't stick.
- Place in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool before serving. Drizzle with melted butter alternative and your favorite syrup.
If you try this recipe, let me know! Did you try any variations, and how did it turn out?
