This is one of those special occasion, once-a-year brunches. Because it is amazingly delicious, and really bad for you, but the deliciousness makes it worth it.
As you might expect, croissants make wonderful French toast. They are rich and tender and easy to eat. (I like to think there’s something fitting about turning French croissants into French toast… though I doubt they make it this way in France.) They don’t need maple syrup to make them taste good – fresh fruit does the trick much better.
My “special occasion” for making it this morning was supposed to be the approaching end of strawberry season in DC. Vendors at the farmer’s market were telling me there were only a couple weeks left, so I figured it was a good time for French toast and strawberries. But then we found the first raspberries of the season, so we had to change plans and have French toast with raspberries instead.
Good, fresh raspberries are precious. They’re hard to find, they’re pricey, and they don’t keep well. But I love them so much that it’s worth getting them whenever they’re in season (and that it’s worth taking up limited patio space on a crazy experiment to grow them myself – which has yielded a few flowers so far, so it seems to be working!)
They do keep quite badly – I’ve had too many bad experiences of leaving raspberries in the fridge even for a day, and finding them moldy. That’s just heartbreaking, so I always try to eat them the same day I get them. It’s not very hard.
I didn’t do anything special to make the French toast. I used one croissant per person, and made my usual batter of one egg, an equal amount of milk, a big pinch of sugar, and a bit of vanilla. (That amount was just right for 2 servings.) Then cut the croissants in half, coat both sides in batter, then cook each side until it’s lightly browned. Serve it with any sort of fresh berries and, if you want to be truly decadent, some whipped cream or creme fraiche.
Then go dream about it until it’s berry season again.