Raspberry & Chambord Croissant French Toast

We recently visited Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a quaint and historic town nestled into the hilly landscape of the Ozark Mountains. Although the town is now known for its Victorian architecture and surrounding natural beauty, the town was originally developed as a destination for folks seeking to improve their health by drinking the area’s natural spring waters. Today, the town is chock-full of adorable bed-and-breakfast inns, charming shops, friendly people, and wonderful restaurants.

We chose The Heartstone Inn for our stay and the location was perfect for walking down into town and access to surrounding sights, hikes, and bike trails. The innkeepers, Cheri and Rick Rojek, are absolutely delightful – so friendly, gracious, and informative. And, they put on quite an amazing and complete breakfast, with a new and different recipe every day, alternating savory and sweet breakfast dishes, in addition to fresh fruit, breakfast meats, and potatoes. Each morning we were always so excited to see what would be on the menu!

This French toast they served us one morning was so delicious, made with Chambord, raspberry preserves, orange juice a little bit of cream cheese, and croissant pieces. It’s also in their cookbook Bigger, Better Breakfast and Brunch Cookbook, listed as Raspberry Chambord French Toast. The book is in its 39th printing and is so small and compact, that you’d never guess there are literally hundreds of fantastic recipes inside! Unfortunately, we only stayed four days, so we still have a lot of exploring to do in this fun cookbook!

Their recipe in the book suggests making the dish in an 8×13 baking dish, but they served it to us in individual round servings, so we made ours in buttered ramekins and they turned out beautifully! Also, the recipe does not call for cream cheese, but they day we had them, each one had a little pop of cream cheese in the very center and it was so good that we decided to make ours that very same way!

Below is a photo of downtown Eureka Springs, and you can see how hilly the town is — reminiscent of many European towns. We were there just as the leaves were beginning to bud, and by now it must be in full leaf and gorgeous with all of the green foliage and spring and summer flowers.

5 from 1 vote

Raspberry & Chambord Croissant French Toast

Croissant pieces, soaked in an egg and milk custard, and baked with a glaze of Chambord (raspberry liqueur), raspberry jam and orange juice, with a little pop of melted cream cheese in the very center. This dish makes a beautiful brunch entree, but also is fantastic for dessert!

Servings 6 Servings

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Equipment

• 6 4×2 inch ramekins Should hold approximately 8 fluid oz.

Ingredients

• ▢ 5 croissants cut into bite-sized pieces
• ▢ 1/3 cup raspberry jam
• ▢ 3 tbsp. orange juice
• ▢ 1 tbsp. Chambord
• ▢ 6 large eggs
• ▢ 1/2 cup milk
• ▢ 6 tbsp. heavy cream
• ▢ 4 oz. cream cheese, cut into 6 cubes and chilled
• ▢ 6 raspberries for garnish
• ▢ 6 orange peel curls for garnish
• ▢ 2 tbsp. powdered sugar, for garnish

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease the inside of the ramekins generously with butter. Place the buttered ramekins on a baking sheet.
• Cut croissants into cubes. Set aside.
• Whisk eggs together with cream and milk in a large bowl.
• Blend Chambord, orange juice, and raspberry jam with a whisk in a bowl. Set aside.
• Drop the croissants pieces into the egg mixture and push down so that all of the croissants are submerged in the mixture. Using a serving spoon, divide half of the croissant mixture in the bottom of each ramekin. Set the remainder aside for the time being.
• Spoon a tablespoon or so of the raspberry mixture over the croissants in each ramekin. Place the chilled cream cheese square on top of the raspberry sauce. Then divide remaining croissant-egg mixture evenly over the cheese in each ramekin. Finally, drizzle the rest of the raspberry mixture over the top of each ramekin.
• Bake the French toast for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and puffy. When you push your finger into the top, it should spring back. Remove from oven, garnish with a raspberry, an orange twist and powdered sugar if you’d like! Serve hot while the cheese is still melty.

Notes

This recipe can be found on page 55 of The Heartstone Inn Bigger, Better Breakfast Cookbook. In the recipe, the cream cheese is omitted, but when we had this dish at the inn, there was a little pop of cream cheese in the center and we loved that addition. 

Also, the recipe is much larger in the cookbook and calls for baking it in a 9×13 baking dish. But, we love the single servings in individual ramekins. If you make the whole recipe from the book, it will yield 10-12 servings when made in ramekins. 

The baking time is reduced by about 15 minutes when making them in individual ramekins. You need just 25 to 30 minutes instead of the 45 called for in the larger recipe.

If you love the Chambord sauce, make a little extra to drizzle over the top when you serve it!

Course: Breads, Breakfast, Dessert

Keyword: Breakfast recipes, Brunch recipes, Chamord French toast, croissant French toast, raspberry french toast