Recipe: Tai's Brioche French Toast with Strawberry-Blushing Compote

St. Louis chef and artist Tai Davis created a Brioche French Toast recipe with a Big Heart twist —our Blushing hibiscus tea simmered with strawberries and fresh lemon for a sweet-tart-citrus compote on top.

Brioche French Toast w/ Strawberry-Blushing Compote

The health benefits of hibiscus in your kitchen

Pretty much the whole world knows hibiscus. The flower is a symbol of tropical cheer, and the tea has been recognized as a healthy daily drink in almost every corner of the globe for generations — from the Senegalese Bissap, to India’s Ayurvedic medicine, and more. 

This beautiful flower is clinically-proven to lower blood pressure and is naturally loaded with Vitamin C and other antioxidants to combat free radicals and illness, and boost brain function. Hibiscus can also help even and stabilize metabolic disorders like diabetes.

So yeah, bringing this delicious herb into your cooking is a good decision in more ways than one. And it goes PERFECTLY with strawberry and lemon in Tai’s compote.

The Chef

Chef Tai offers consulting, teaching, and personal chef services under the moniker Æther, with his creative Alchemy Bakery and conceptual food art with Sacred Geometry. 

Before Alchemy Bakery, Tai served as executive chef of The Tavern of Fine Arts, staged in kitchens such as Element, The Libertine, Niche, Franco, and The Demun Oyster Bar, and then served as Executive Pastry Chef for The Chocolate Pig Restaurant, during which his work was featured in Sauce, Delta Sky, Feast, E-Squared, Band's Through Town, and Saint Louis Magazine. Most recently, Chef Tai’s pastry skills were showcased on the Food Network Show ‘Halloween Baking Championship.’

the recipe

Ingredients

Makes 8 servings

Brioche French Toast

• 8 slices brioche, or thick white bread
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup cream
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Strawberry-Blushing Compote

• 2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries, quartered
• 1/3 cup sugar or agave nectar
• 1 cup water
• 3 Blushing tea bags
• 1/2 a lemon, juiced

STEPS

Make your compote first.

1. In a small saucepan, heat up water and sugar. Boil for 1 minute, stirring occasionally, and then reduce heat to simmer to add Blushing tea bags.
2. Simmer for an additional 2 minutes, then add strawberries.
3. Remove tea bags, add lemon juice, and simmer on low until strawberries are tender and simple syrup thickens and reduces by half (about 10 minutes).
4. Remove from stove and let cool (about 5 minutes).

Now the toast!

1. In a small bowl, combine cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar. Set aside.
2. In a 10-inch or 12-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. 
3. Whisk together cinnamon mixture with eggs, milk, and vanilla, and pour into a shallow container for dipping your bread. 
4. Dip bread in egg mixture on both sides. 
5. Fry slices until golden brown, then flip to cook the other side.
6. Serve with Strawberry-Blushing Compote, your favorite granola, and a dollop of whipped cream for the ultimate breakfast.

Brunch it up, babes.