One of my favorite childhood breakfasts was french toast. Mom always made the best, but Grandpa Z’s was a very close second. He used thick slices of the amazing Hawaiian bread that comes in the pie tin. Dipped into some kind of awesome batter, salted, cooked perfectly.
A while back I came up with my own egg free batter to make a vegan and gluten free french toast. I have made several adaptations, including one made with my homemade Bailey’s and black tea. So good.
I think I have topped even that.
This zucchini bread is perfect on its own. Fluffy and soft, with a perfect crumb and crumbly topping. It is great fresh out of the oven with melted butter. It is great warm and it is great cold.
You must save some slices for french toast. As you dip and cook the french toast pieces, some of the crumbly topping falls off and you just scoop it up with the spatula… cooking it in with the slices… so good.
Look at that crumb topping – getting all over and being so crunchy caramely:
perfect zucchini bread
adapted from cherry zucchini muffins
dairy, egg, soy and gluten free, vegan
makes 12 muffins
2 tablespoons flax seed, freshly ground
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour
3/4 cup coconut flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 tablespoon cinnamon
pinch sea salt
2 cups zucchini, grated
1/3 cup safflower oil
3/4 cup maple syrup
Grind flax seed in blender, coffee grinder. Combine 2 tablespoons flax with 1/2 cup water and stir. Place in refrigerator to set into gel (this equals / replaces two eggs).
Prepare crumb topping – recipe below.
In large bowl, combine grated zucchini, oil and maple syrup. In same bowl, add flours but do not stir in. On top of the flours, add baking powder, xanthan gum, cinnamon and salt, stirring into the flours before folding into wet ingredients. Pour into prepared (buttered, sprayed) loaf pan. Top with crumble topping and get into oven.
Bake at 350 for 35-38 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
perfect crumb topping
dairy, soy, egg, and gluten free, vegan
tops one loaf
1/3 cup gluten free all purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter (Earth Balance soy free), melted
In saucepan over medium heat (or in microwave safe bowl, ~1 minute in microwave), melt butter. Add flour and sugar to melted butter, stir until combined, resulting in a thick crumbly paste consistency. Crumble over bread before cooking.
So then… you take this bread and you slice it and you dip it into the french toast batter and you cook it and you eat it and you thank me and … and …
zucchini bread french toast
adapted from Baileys and black tea french toast
dairy, egg and gluten free, vegan
makes six pieces
1/2 container (6 ounces) silken tofu
1/2 cup coconut milk (or dairy free milk of choice)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla paste or vanilla
6 pieces zucchini bread (or your favorite gluten free bread)
Combine all ingredients in food processor. Thin with more liquid as necessary (silken tofu varies in consistency). Pour into shallow bowl, dip bread pieces into batter and cook on a griddle over medium heat, a minute or two on each side, until cooked through and golden.
Perfect for a weekend breakfast. or a Tuesday.
{ 59 comments… read them below or add one }
YUM!
I hope your weekend was well! Wanted to say Happy Birthday to your dad! I know it was yesterday I believe! Tell him I send birthday love! I hope Sunday was nice when you guys took him out!
Love ya! <3
thank you so much! we had a nice lunch on Sunday, then yesterday for his birthday I went over to his house and made him dinner. we brought Basil with us and had a nice evening. well, everyone but Dad’s cats had a nice evening – Basil just wants to chase them
love you, dear. thank you so much for being you. <3
Really???? I just finished my oatmeal. The first time I had French toast was staying the night with a friend. I went home that morning raving about it so mom got the “recipe” and I learned to make it myself. I would make it all the time. In fact, I still have the electric flat griddle and was just talking about it to Jason yesterday. I can smell the syrup now.
awww… that is awesome. funny what foods we get stuck on when we’re younger, for me it was a dutch pancake. I made them every Saturday for the whole family.
I could stare at this for days. Zucchini bread is my favorite. Even more so than banana. I turned it into oats! But this. Wow. I’m moving in with you.
haa, me too
zucchini bread is my favorite too! I’d take it over banana every time. I made an extra loaf of this and it is now in my freezer… waiting for winter when I’ll want this again… 
ha! we now have an extra room - come on over!
that zuke bread looks absolutely perfect as-is and then drenched in syrup and french toasted, mmmmm good thinking!
thanks, Averie. pretty happy with this recipe, finally
Of all the zucchini stuff I’ve seen lately, this is a new one! Love the idea of it for breakfast in french toast. Just weird enough to be unique but still delicious
it is definitely zucchini season, for sure! I always have to save a few for zucchini bread… I froze one of these loaves for the middle of winter, when I want this again!
Seriously??? Dang woman, why do you live so far away???!!! This looks amazing!
I ask myself this every day *sigh*. wish I could share with you!
I have an abundance of zucchini in my fridge- and this sounds like the perfect solution! I don’t know why I never think of using quick breads for french toast- that just makes so much damn sense.
So, do you think that you could use blackstrap molasses instead of syrup? I am just about out of maple syrup
“just makes so much damn sense” < -- you are SO right, Lauren!! :D :D almost out of maple syrup – ACK! molasses should work? I’ve used agave when I have no maple syrup…
I JUST told myself I want to make zucchini bread. and then you go and post this. And it looks like the epic combination of both!! SO YUM!!!!!!!!!
yes. you MUST!
i forgot how good tofu is in batter. ahh yes. Bringing that back for sure!
<3 you.
yep. now I can have french toast again!
*love you too*
the extreme talent does it again!! next time tell us when to show up… Xxo
will do! GAAH I wish you guys could just pop over!
What a perfect use for zucchini bread–and for overabundant zucchini too! Why have I never thought to fry rich cakey bread slices into french toast? Maybe because I already think of them as cake…
it’s that time of year, right? we moved too late to begin a garden this year, so I’m actually missing my “so much zucchini I have to sneak them into neighbors mail boxes” problem I usually have
this is definitely a decadent breakfast… or a nice dessert!
brilliant!!!! love it
what a delicious breakfast! I love that you can get some veggies into breakfast! And so pretty too!
always get my veggies with breakfast… justifies THIS kind of decadence, right?
What a fantastic idea! I like the tofu in the French toast coating – great idea.
the tofu makes a prefect french toast batter – rich and creamy.
This looks great. I love to think of ‘french toast’ as a verb!
right? it should be…
Oh yum. Thank you, thank you. My Hubby loves zucchini bread, so this is sure to be a huge hit.
hi Meghan! I was so happy with how this bread turned out – I hope you guys like it!
Yummers! What a great idea!
thanks girl! XXO
Yum, such a delicious idea to use quick bread as the base to French toast. I’ll definitely have to try that with the next fruit loaf I bake!
seriously, you must do this, Leanne! so good.
what a great idea!! I’m making this for breakfast this weekend……
I need to try this, I have many zucchini in the garden right now, yippeeee!
enjoy!!
These individual stuffed french toasts were the perfect breakfast for dinner treat (or you could, of course, eat them for breakfast)! Having it in individual ramekins made it even more special, but you could easily make this into one large casserole dish to save even more time. Enjoy!
Wow. Just wow. I mean, wow. This is probably the most decadent, mouth-watering, french toast I have ever seen (and I worked in a French restaurant for awhile that served a gorgeous super-fancy french toast- this one tops that!). I need to try this! And your grandpa’s french toast sounds pretty great- I used to LOVE that Hawaiian bread!
oh, wow – I take that as a major compliment, thank you! and yes, I miss my grandpas toast – it was an event!
Just as I’ve been craving zucchini bread! what GF all purpose blend do you use?
hi Maddy!
the GF AP I use is Bob’s Red Mill brand, just straight up, no blend.
Yay! I love Bob’s!
that’s it, I’m on my way!
okay, we’ll be here!
Mmm, zucchini bread! For years I always made banana bread, but I think zucchini is slowly taking over as my #1! And actually, same goes for french toast vs. pancakes — pancakes used to be my #1, but my adult self has a growing appreciate for french toast. Clearly I’m exhausted as I sit here typing my bread and breakfast rankings.
Love the crumbly topping on the bread, I need to try that!
it’s funny, I’ve been more about pancakes lately, I think mainly because I don’t always have bread around… I think I will always love french toast the most, though.
and zucchini bread is a hands down winner against banana, to me. unless it’s my tropical bread with the macadamia crumble… THAT is good!
All this talk of breads makes me think we’re clearly we’re going to need to sell a line of quick breads in our bakery.
YES, this clearly needs to happen! this is funny, I saw that you had replied in my email, and somehow I *knew* it was about our bakery…
love the zucchini bread and the delicious french toast !and i have 2 zucchinis now staring back up at me.
there you go – a perfect use for them!
I have a question about the recipe: three tablespoons of water have to be mixed with the flaxmeal, but I can’t find in the instructions when the rest of the 3/4 cup of warm water has to be added?
sorry and thank you for pointing that out, Yvonne – I have updated the recipe to read TWO tablespoons flax to one half cup water – the equivalent to two eggs. (when I use three eggs it is 3/4 cup, my mistake).
And I happen to have a few slices worth of leftover (vegan, gluten-free) zucchini bread that I made over the weekend…
Guess what’s for breakfast tomorrow?
Oh, I love this idea. I saw the link on Heather’s site and had to come take a peek. Will try this!
hello Jenny, and thank you!
it is a bit decadent, but… there’s zucchini, so it’s all good, right?
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