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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.
What? It’s Mother’s Day. She’s living it up.
OK. Here are the details.
Like I said, this french toast is not like any you’ve had before. Each piece is stuffed with sweet blackberry jam before getting dipped through an eggy, buttery, ricotta based batter. The pieces of toast are then layered in a baking dish and left to sit for an hour, or even overnight, to really let the batter soak into the bread.
Once the bread has soaked for a while, it’s time for the oven, where this dish will bake up to a sweet and golden perfection.
Now, you can of course just eat the french toast as is, but you guys know me, I need toppings. So I whipped up some ricotta and served it alongside the warm french toast with a light drizzle of maple syrup.
Yum. Yum. And YUM.
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.
Ready, set…
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!
Watch the How-To Video:
Baked Blackberry Ricotta French Toast
Servings: 10 servings
Calories Per Serving: 328 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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
- 1. Grease a 9x13 inch-baking dish with butter. 2. 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). 3. 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.4. 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.5. 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. 6. Serve the french toast warm, topped with whipped ricotta, fresh berries, and maple syrup. Enjoy!
GO.
I LOVE your recipes! Could you substitute marscapone cheese for the ricotta here? I am obsessed with all things marscapone right now, and looking forward to making a stuffed French toast for company soon! Thanks!
HI! I am sure mascarpone will be great! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much! xTieghan
I tried this last week and it was a big hit! I am doing it again this morning but mixed the ricotta with some cream cheese in the wet ingredients.
Yum! I am so glad you loved this! Thank you Destiny!
Made this for friends this morning for brunch and everyone had seconds! Super yummy and easy to make.
Thank you Emma!
Hey girl! Can I make the whip cream ahead of time?
Yes! Keep it in the fridge until ready to serve. I would make it the night before. Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂
Loved this! Made it when my extended family was in town, being able to do almost everything the night before made for such a pleasant brunch with minimal cleanup! Definitely my new go-to brunch dish, as everyone was impressed!
I am so glad your family loved this! Thank you!!
I made this recipe this morning and it was easy to make and the flavor was flawless! Loved it because it wasn’t overly sweet, just perfect!
So happy to hear that Laura! Thank you!
Wow that looks so delicious. Going to buy all ingredients now. Thank you dear very much.
I am so glad you are trying this recipe! I hope you love it!
Made this for mother’s day brunch. It was a huge hit and it looked so beautiful on the platter. Thanks! Will definitely be making this again.
Thank you! I hope you love this!
Made this (and the Brie/Asparagus puff pastry) for Mother’s Day Brunch yesterday, and it was delicious! Just the right amount of sweetness without being over the top. I made with Blueberry preserves and it got great reviews from the crowd. Thanks!
So happy to hear that! Thank you Sarah!
Yum! I made this for mother’s day brunch and everyone loved it. I stuffed each piece with fresh blueberries as well as blackberry jam. I did make the mistake of putting the whipped cream on top of the whole casserole but it melts pretty quickly so would recommend doing it piece by piece.
YUM! Thank you Danielle!
Thank you so much Ruth! I am so glad you like this!
I was also wondering about the baking dish. What is the diameter of your round casserole? And how did you layer?
Thought I was having guests this weekend but they were weather delayed so instead there is a practice run in fridge waiting to be baked!
My baking dish is a 12 inch braiser. it’s equivalent to the size of a 9×13 inch pyrex pan. Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂
I just prepared the French Toast for our brunch tomorrow. I noticed in your photo that there was cheese AND jam buttered in the split slices. So I’m confused if that was part of the recipe – which I didn’t do. The recipe looks terrific anyway, and I’m
looking forward to serving it several wonderful moms!
Thank you Karen!
Couldn’t find challah bread so I substituted brioche. I hope it turns out the same! I’ve prepared it tonight and plan to cook it in the morning for my mom!
I am sure this will turn out great! I hope you love it Corrie! Thank you!
My mouth is watering! This is DEFINITELY happening this Mother’s Day for brunch! It’s going to be a rare 80 degrees in WA state and we will be eating outside. GLORY! What size is your braiser, may I ask?
Mine is a 12 inch braiser. Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂 Oh and enjoy that warm weather!