Baked Coconut French Toast with Tropical Fruit Compote

Baked Coconut French Toast with Fruit Compote

We are now officially into summer. The weather is sunny, hot and beautiful; and I’m cooking up something special for our breakfast. Something with a tropical vibe to it.

What started me down this path was a recent purchase of a large bag of unsweetened, flaked coconut, (read, large flakes), by Bob’s Red Mill. Don’t ask why I bought this when I already have two bags of the standard, sweetened flaked coconut on hand. In addition, I’m not one to use a lot of coconut, even though we like it, because of my concern for the oil content. Well, not everything I do always makes perfect sense, so now I must devise ways to use coconut. Expect to see more recipes featuring coconut popping up in the near future. 😀

Baked French Toast, a somewhat “showy” breakfast, is really easy for me to serve on a weekend morning. I assemble it all the evening before, put it in the fridge overnight, and just take it out and bake it in the morning. While the toast is baking, I put together a fruit mixture, that I’ll loosely call a Tropical Fruit Compote, so you’ll think I really spent a lot of time planning for how this was all going to go together. 😀

The French Toast and fruit mixture complemented each other nicely and provided a “summery” feeling to a breakfast that we enjoyed eating out on the deck.

BAKED COCONUT FRENCH TOAST

Yield: Serves 4

For the Toast:

8 slices ( 1/2- inch thick ) diagonally cut Italian bread
Cooking spray
1 1/4 cups coconut milk ( or almond milk)
4 large eggs, or 1 1/4 cups egg substitute
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract ( to increase coconut flavor, use coconut extract)
1/2 cup flaked coconut

1. Spray a 13 x 9 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Arrange the bread slices snugly in the dish.

2. Combine the milk, eggs or egg substitute, sugar and vanilla, stirring with a whisk. Pour evenly over the bread. Turn the bread slices over to coat evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 375*F. Remove bread mixture from refrigerator, uncover, and turn bread slices over. Sprinkle evenly with coconut. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.