Sweet Hawaiian bread battered and deep fried to crispy perfection on the outside, but light and fluffy on the inside, then served with tropical butter and finished with a sprinkle of toasted coconut.
Ten years ago, my husband and I took a trip to Hawaii to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We were staying on Oahu at the beautiful Ko Olina Resort, but traveled in to Honolulu for a special Brunch on the Beach street fair held on Sundays during the summer. We were lured to Brunch on the Beach with a promise of good food and free Hawaiian entertainment.
We weren’t disappointed. When I saw the beautiful French toast plate Duke’s Waikiki was serving, I had to have it. It was almost too pretty to eat. Each plate was served with an exotic orchid on top. I snapped the above picture before we dug in, and that was years before I started food blogging.
And it tasted even better than it looked. I had never had deep fried French toast before, and it took French toast to a entirely new level. It was crispy on the outside, but still light and fluffy on the inside. With sweet tropical butter dripping off of each French toast stick, it was the best street foot I’d ever eaten.
I dreamed about that French toast for years. When I stumbled on Red Star yeast’s recipe for Hawaiian Sweet Bread, I knew the time had finally come to try and recreate the deep fried French toast sticks at home.
I searched for some deep fried French toast recipes online for inspiration. My recipe is a combination of the Punalu’u Bake Shop’s Sweetbread French Toast recipe and Our Best Bites Puffed French Toast.
This French toast is fantastic and pretty close to the French toast I remember eating that day in Hawaii. My tropical butter wasn’t nearly as good as Duke’s. I guess that just means I need to keep working on it.
This recipe made more French toast sticks than my crowd could eat for one breakfast, so I froze the leftovers. They froze well and tasted almost as good as they did the day I made them. So my advice is to go for it and just fry up the entire loaf.
Hawaiian Sweet Bread French Toast Sticks
Ingredients
- 1 loaf Hawaiian Sweet Bread
- 6 eggs beaten
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup half and half or heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Canola oil for frying
Instructions
- Cut bread in to 1 inch slices, then cut into 1 ½ inch sticks.
- Preheat 2 inches of oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365º F.
- Beat together egg, milk, cream, sugar, salt and vanilla. Dip slices of bread in batter and fry until golden brown. Turn once. Let your oil get back to 365º before cooking each batch.
- Serve warm with Tropical Fruit Butter. Garnish with toasted coconut.
Cindy Harris
Oh you tempt me! These look wonderful.
We went to Hawaii for my parents 50th wedding. It was December, every morning my Dad and I would get up early and eat breakfast outside on a deck. We were served the most delicious macadamia nut bread. It was light and full of macadamias. I need to recreate it. I’m so glad I had this memory of eating breakfast with my dad. HE has been gone 8 years. Memories are good.
Nutmeg Nanny
Wow, this is a fantastic way to brighten up the same old french toast recipe!
Angie@Angie's Recipes
What a fascinating idea! The sticks look so yum!
deeba
I love it when you can connect delicious food to times well spent and food memories. These look so special. And I agree, go ahead and fry the whole loaf GF! YUM!!
Maureen
Oh now I must make the Hawaiian bread so I can have French toast sticks. What a lovely anniversary holiday!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
This sounds decadent but also worth every calorie too mum! 😀 xxx
Emily
Can’t wait to try this!
Barbara Schieving
I hope you love it too. My daughter just asked at dinner when I was going to make it again. If I hurry I make be able to make it to Sam’s Club before they close to buy some Hawaiian Sweet Bread.
Carole Resnick
I am going to cheat on this one. Recently won a Kings Hawaiian gift pack. Waiting for shipment. Will use bread for this.
Barbara Schieving
Sounds like a great idea to me. Enjoy!
Melissa B
This recipe for French Toast sticks sounds so good! =)
Thanks for sharing!
Melissa
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
These sound like such a delight! Lovely idea!
Amanda
The bread looks wonderful Barbara, and such great presentation 🙂
Rosa
A great idea! This recipe is really original.
Cheers,
Rosa
Cookin Canuck
What a fantastic way to use Hawaiian sweet bread! We could definitely use some of that Hawaiian feel here right now.
Jen @ Savory Simple
What an interesting recipe! It sounds wonderful. Some day I’ll make it to Hawaii…