Baked Blackberry Ricotta French Toast

If there’s one brunch recipe you need in your life, it’s this Baked Blackberry Ricotta French Toast. Not only is this french toast incredibly easy, it’s also better than any other french toast you’ve ever had. Soft, buttery, sweet, and filled with blackberry jam, ricotta cheese and fresh blackberries. It’s the perfect brunch entrée for both spring and summer gatherings.

Welcome to another installment of Recipes my mom LOVES. If you hadn’t guessed from yesterday’s post, my mom loves brunch type food. Breakfast is her jam (get it? like her breakfast jam? no? OK. stopping now) and she’d eat it for every meal if she could. One of the main reasons I developed a love of cooking was through my mom, and no, not because she loves to cook. In fact, she’s much more of a baker, and her cooking skills tend to be limited to pasta with butter. This is not to say she can’t/could not learn, because I one hundred percent know that she could, but she just doesn’t care to cook. Although I’m told she did do most of the cooking back when my brothers were little, before I was born, and when I was a baby.

Anyway, as a kid mom and I would do breakfast for lunch any chance we got. Meaning on the days I played hooky from school because I was “sick”. Right. Right. We’d make chocolate chip banana pancakes and huddle by the fire. It was the best, and it’s where my love of cooking really started to kick in.

Fast forward a few years to where we are today. I am very much grown-up, no longer living at home, and yet here I am, still making sweet breakfasts inspired by my mom. Some things will never change. Not complaining. Side Note: when and how did I get so old?! Over the years of writing HBH, I have ventured out from our classic banana pancakes and created more than a few new breakfast recipes. This blackberry and ricotta filled baked french toast is high on my list of favorites, and moms too. So much so that it’s the only thing she’s asked to have on Mother’s Day this Sunday. Well, ok this french toast and then these crepes. French toast for breakfast, crepes for dinner with a big spring salad. You know, to round out the meal.

There’s truly nothing not to love about this french toast and what’s great is that if you are planning to make it for your weekend brunch, you can prepare everything the previous day and then just bake it up the morning of your brunch. Super simple. So delicious. And you know, really pretty too! You guys all know I love a dish that’s pretty and delicious. Trust me when I say, all the moms of the world will also love this french toast. Also trust me when I say, anyone who’s not a mom will love this french toast. So basically, this french toast will be well loved by all.

You just need to make it so you can experience it for yourself.

If you make this Blackberry French Toast and love it, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I love, love, love hearing from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every one of you. Oh, and of course, if you do make this, don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram so I can see! I love looking at the photos of recipes you all have made. It makes my day!

Ingredients:

  • 1 loaf challah bread, sliced into 1 inch thick slices
  • 1 jar (10 ounces) blackberry or blueberry preserves
  • 6 large eggs, beaten
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 16 ounces whole milk ricotta cheese
  • ▢2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 4 tablespoons salted butter, melted
  • 1 cup fresh blackberries
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • powdered sugar and maple syrup, for serving

    • Instructions

  • Grease a 9x13 inch-baking dish with butter.
  • Slice each piece of bread in half, cutting almost all the way through, but leaving a 1/4 inch at the bottom. Spread the inside of the bread with blackberry jam, press to enclose (see above photo).
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, 1 cup ricotta, maple syrup. vanilla, lemon zest, salt, and butter. Submerge each piece of bread into the egg mixture, allowing the bread to sit at least a minute and soak up the eggs. Arrange the bread in the prepared baking dish. Pour the remaining egg mixture over the bread slices.
  • Cover and place in the fridge for 1 hour or overnight. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Sprinkle half the blackberries over top the french toast. Transfer to the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the French toast is golden and crisp. If the tops of the bread begin to brown too quickly, loosely cover the french toast with foil.
  • Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the remaining 1 cup ricotta. Stir in 1 tablespoon powdered sugar, if desired.
  • Serve the french toast warm, topped with whipped ricotta, fresh berries, and maple syrup. Enjoy!



    • Recipe from Half Baked Harvest