Sweet and flavorful, this Strawberry Chocolate French Toast Bake is the ultimate crowd-pleaser. It's filled with cottage cheese and super HEALTHY. A delectable, make-ahead morning treat or brunch.
We are only a week away from Mothers Day. ? A beautiful celebration of motherhood and family. We cherish that holiday in our family from since I remember. My mom passed on a tradition of special morning hugs and kisses on that day, and now when I have a family, I'm passing on that tradition to my kid. We do wake up every morning hugging and kissing each other, but on THAT day, kisses are sweeter and hugs are slightly tighter. Also, I always receive a special gift from my baby boy - a drawing or a card with I love you mom sign. It melts my heart every time. Even my husband gives me the special treatment on that day. He always prepares breakfast in bed for all of us. And we laugh and eat on our bad, and stay in our pajamas until noon. It's a day filled with love. That's why I love Mother's day so much.
When I was thinking about breakfast in bed, I had a vision of this wonderful Strawberry Chocolate French Toast Bake filled with melted dark chocolate and strawberries flavor. Besides obvious, this French Toast bake is special because it's made with all HEALTHY stuff and it's super EASY to make. Even the clumsiest husband could make this and serve amazing breakfast in bed. Not only for Mother's Day but any day!
Just like Vanilla French Toast Muffins, this Strawberry Chocolate French Toast Bake is made without any added fats. It's nutritious but super low-calorie.
To make this beautiful French Toast bake, I used a day-old whole wheat bread. The egg mixture is quite classic. It contains eggs and milk - I used almond milk that has that delightful nutty flavor and is rich in proteins and healthy omega-3. Instead of using heavy cream that is full of fats and basically empty calories, I used cottage cheese, full of proteins and very low on fats. I spiced up the mixture with some warm spices - vanilla, nutmeg and super healthy Ceylon cinnamon.
I spread out the mixture over cubed bread - YES cubed, much more fun than plain bread slices - and topped everything with fresh strawberries and bits of dark chocolate pieces. Now we're getting to that YUM part, right!? After approx 30 min in oven, depending on oven type, your gorgeous and flavorsome, HEALTHY breakfast is ready.
Strawberry Chocolate French Toast Bake is best to serve warm, straight from the oven. You can add some syrup on top and some fresh strawberries.... you can never go wrong with adding more strawberries. I tell you, it's quite hard to stop eating until you empty the whole pan of this deliciousness.
This Strawberry Chocolate French Toast Bake is super easy to make and delicious breakfast/brunch for any day of the week. Kids absolutely love this. Everything can be made ahead. Prepare it and keep in fridge overnight. In the morning, just fire up the oven. Until you all brush your teeth and comb your heads, your breakfast is ready.
Strawberry Chocolate French Toast Bake is the finest thing that can happen to you in the morning when you open your eyes. Trust me! Sweet melted dark chocolate and delightful strawberries, sealed on fragrant, soft bread filled with cheese. Just YUM! ?
Strawberry Chocolate French Toast Bake
Ingredients
- 10 slices day-old whole grain bread , 1-inch thick
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup cottage cheese
- ½ cup almond milk
- 1 tablespoon honey or syrup
- Pinch of Himalayan salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Ceylon cinnamon
- ⅓ teaspoon nutmeg
- Fresh Strawberries
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate , 70% or more cocoa
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 356F (180C) degrees. Line the bottom of a 9x9 inch (22x22cm) square baking pan with parchment paper.
- Slice whole grain toast into cubes. Layer cubes on bottom of baking dish.
- In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, cheese, milk, salt, and spices until well combined. Spread the mixture evenly over the bread cubes.
- Place sliced strawberries and chocolate pieces on top evenly.
- Bake 30 minutes, until top, is nicely golden brown and puffy throughout
- Serve warm, straight from the oven with syrup or as-is.
Notes
Nutrition
Xoxo, 
This looks excellent! I love dishes like this, and especially enjoy making them on the weekends when we have company over. Thank you for this!
Thank you Melissa :) I'm glad you like it. Enjoy! ;)
I made this cake last week for my mom on the mother's day. She was surprised. And she gave me many compliments. By the way, I am addicted to strawberries. I added strawberries as many as possible. I couldn't stop eating the cake. LOL!
Thank you, Sheila! I'm soooo glad you all love the bake. :) I can imagine a bunch of strawberries on this bake... YUM!
This french toast bake looks heavenly. Love the strawberries!
Such an appetizing and mouth-watering recipe, Natalie! I cannot wait to give it a try!
Please get in touch with my children, and let them know I'd like this delivered in bed (not too early), and with a really good cup of tea!
This looks so delicious and inviting ?
I am gonna give this recipe a try on mother’s day and give me and my family a yummy treat.
I wouldn't mind waking up really early if I had this lovely bake for breakfast. Cottage cheese and strawberries together can only make an amazing recipe. I love it!
Looking at photos of this at 11pm knowing that I won't be having this for breakfast is making me a little sad. Haha! Strawberries, chocolate, and French toast all combined? What could be better?
What a great recipe to give it to a "not a great cook" husband! He is a great husband but quite a bad cook. Recipes like this would be something he can totally make on a weekend for us. I can't wait for Mother's day to see what my little munchkins have in store for me :)
Looks great breakfast for mothers day. love the way you made french toast not only with egg and milk but with chocolate, spices and strawberry. yum.
It’s 3:30 pm and all I can think of is having a piece of this delicious strawberry chocolate french toast bake!! You can’t go wrong with strawberry and chocolate!! ?
What a great looking and tasting breakfast casserole. You could almost use this for dessert too. I think this would be awesome on Mother’s Day…easy for dad and the kids to make.
I think I'll show Hubby this photo and print out the recipe for him. All our kids are grown but I still think I deserve special treatment. ? And I'm all for staying in my jammies until noon -- or later. Can't wait to try the recipe.
I'm gonna print out the recipe to my hubby too hehehe :) We do deserve special treatment that day. Thanks Marisa!
Ah!! Strawberry and Chocolate over a French toast.! Now that's breakfast and desserts in one.. Yum.. Love this Natalie. Can't wait to try.
Yes, exactly. A breakfast and dessert in one. Perfect right?! ;) Thanks Veena!
Lip-smacking good, goodness of bread and fruits, chocolate makes it totally irresistible
Thank you so much Priya :)
Lovely and so easy to make. Strawberries and chocolate are always a very nice pairing.
Match made in heaven ;) Thanks Adriana!
I would love to have this for breakfast any day of the week Natalie. It sounds really pretty simple to make and the fact you can make it ahead is another BONUS! But let's not forget the chocolate and strawberries either. I'm in :)
Simple and healthy ;) Thanks so much Stephanie! I'm glad you like it.