Coconut french toast with honey, apricots & raspberries

For this month’s recipe as part of my new Weekend Brunch Club series, I decided to do something sweet. When I think of brunch it’s nearly always savoury – eggs, avocado, sourdough etc… but actually (here in Melbourne at least) brunch menus often include sweet things. Pancakes, fritters, french toast and the like. As a child, my dad often made us ‘eggy bread’ on the weekends and this french toast is a play on that. I also found a delicious local honey which worked perfectly with the tart raspberries. If you don’t have honey (or don’t like it) you could use maple syrup or even golden syrup if you prefer.

Coconut french toast with honey, apricots & raspberries 

Ingredients (serves 4): 

• 8 slices of soft white bread
• 2 eggs
• 1 tin of coconut milk
• 25g unsalted butter for frying
• 2 tbsp desiccated coconut
• A handful of fresh raspberries
• Honey or maple syrup
• 2 ripe apricots, cut into small chunks we were lucky enough to have some delicious apricots from the garden! 

Method: 

• Pre-heat your oven to 160 c / gas mark 4. Line a tray with baking foil and leave to one side.
• Lightly whisk the tin of coconut milk with the eggs and pour into a large shallow dish which comfortably fits the slices of bread.
• Using your hands, dip each slice of bread into the egg mixture making sure it coats each side. Allow the excess to drop back into the bowl and put the bread to the side.
• Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the bread. Be careful not to crowd the pan, you’re best doing this in batches of two.
• Fry the toast for around 2-3 minutes each side until browned and slight crispy around the edges. Add the toast to the oven tray and keep warm in the oven whilst you do the remaining batches.
• Cut the toast in half and top with raspberries, apricots and a drizzle of honey. To finish, dust with desiccated coconut.