Portuguese Style Oven French Toast with Homemade Custard Cream

This is one of those recipes that took a delightful turn midway through! Originally, I was planning a simple baked French toast (rabanadas or fatias paridas), and when I tasted them fresh from the oven, they were absolutely stunning—super creamy on the inside with a lovely golden exterior. But here’s the thing about oven-baked French toast…. unlike their delicious hehehe deep-fried cousins, these beauties need a sauce or topping because, just like any toasted bread, they’ll dry out quickly even though the interior stays wonderfully creamy.

I had planned some sort of citrus/orange syrup, but after tasting some December oranges… well, let’s just say 99% of the time Algarve oranges are fantastic, but in December, not so much! Only the zest was decent, so I switched gears completely. The choice was between doce de ovos (Portuguese egg jam) or leite creme (Portuguese custard milk). I went with leite creme because it’s less sweet and less temperamental to make. This healthier, baked version of traditional Portuguese rabanadas gives you all the comfort and flavor without the deep frying, topped with silky Portuguese custard instead of the usual sugar and cinnamon dusting.

Also because you are topping it, you can adjust to your taste or likeing, you want a lot of custard, then add a lot you want a little, then adjust. And yes, sure, they might look a bit “soaked” under that gorgeous custard (even the cinnamon sprinkle can’t hide that!), but taste-wise? I made three types of rabanadas that Christmas, and these mysteriously disappeared first at our Christmas Eve dinner! Sometimes the most humble-looking dishes pack the biggest flavor punch. Lets check the recipe!

Portuguese Style Oven French Toast with Homemade Custard Cream

Servings: 8
Time: 1hr
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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For Christas... How about for a change, go for some oven baked french toasts with a custard... trust me, sounds weird, tastes wonderful!

Ingredients

Bread – 8 Thick Slices of French Toast Bread (Very Dry)
Milk – 600ml (Semi-Skimmed)
Sugar – 60g
Lemon – 2 Peels
Cinnamon – 1 Stick
Eggs – 2
Butter – For Greasing
Milk – 500ml
Sugar – 120g
Flour – 30g
Egg Yolks – 3
Lemon – 1 Zest
Cinnamon – 1 Stick
Cinnamon – For Sprinkling

Directions

Start by preparing the custard, as you want it to be fresh/cold when serving. You can prepare it the day before you make the French toast in the oven.
In a saucepan, combine 500ml of milk with a lemon peel and a cinnamon stick. Bring the milk to a boil (dont let it get into a rolling boil), then remove from heat and remove the lemon peel and cinnamon stick.
In a bowl, add the flour and sugar, mix well, then slowly add the hot milk, whisking constantly, until everything is well mixed. Return everything to the saucepan and put it back on the heat.
When the mixture starts to bubble and thicken again, remove from the heat.
Whisk the egg yolks until creamy, then gradually add the milk and flour mixture to the egg yolks, stirring constantly. You do this to gradually increase the temperature of the egg yolks without curdling them.

When the egg yolk and milk mixture is hot and creamy, return the pan to the heat and, stirring constantly, pour in the milk and egg yolk mixture. Continue stirring until you feel everything thickening and becoming very creamy, then remove from the heat and pour into a large bowl or container (with an airtight lid), allow it to cool completely, then cover/close and refrigerate.
When it’s time to make the French toast, start by preheating the oven to about 200ºC and prepare a buttered baking tray.
In a small saucepan, combine 600ml of milk, 60g of sugar, 2 lemon peels, and 1 cinnamon stick, and heat the milk thoroughly without boiling.
Pour the milk into a large dish or platter and whisk the eggs in another large dish.
Dip the stale bread slices in the hot milk and let them soak well (a good trick is to squeeze the bread slightly; if it feels like a sponge, it’s ready; if it still feels too stiff, put it back in the milk).
When the bread slice is well soaked, dip it in the whisked eggs and add it to the buttered dish. Repeat the process until the dish is full.
Place the dish in the oven and remove the French toast when it is golden brown. Depending on the bread, it may swell a little.
Finally, let them cool a little and then cover with the custard cream, sprinkle with a pinch of cinnamon, and that’s it! Bon appétit and Merry Christmas!

Notes: The leite creme can be prepared up to 2 days in advance and kept refrigerated, you can of course serve hot, but hot with hot bread there is a chance of instead of keeping the bread moist it will dissolve the bread, so servid the custard cold is a better option and the prefered way to serve a portuguese custard!

Use day-old bread that’s quite dry—brioche, challah, or thick-cut sandwich bread work beautifully.

Don’t let the milk boil when making the custard, and temper those egg yolks slowly to avoid scrambling.

I considered serving the custard on the side, but honestly, then you’d basically have slightly firm baked bread and custard cream—and knowing my family, they’d just eat all the custard and ignore my genius! Better not to give them that option! 😉 hehehe

These will look “soaked” under the custard (it’s inevitable!), but the flavor combination is absolutely divine.

Best served immediately while the contrast between warm French toast and cool custard is at its peak.

This recipe for Portuguese Style Oven French Toast with Homemade Custard Cream was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Fatias Paridas no Forno com Leite Creme foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.