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    Home » Recipes » Breakfast » Pancakes and Waffles

    Hawaiian Sweet Bread French Toast Sticks

    Published by Melissa on March 22, 2013 | Updated June 10, 2022 | 16 Comments

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    Featured Image for post Hawaiian Sweet Bread French Toast Sticks

    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.

    Hawaiian-Sweet-Bread-French-Toast-Sticks-2003

    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.

    Hawaiian-Sweet-Bread-French-Toast-Sticks-collage-Barbara-Bakes

    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.

    Hawaiian-Sweet-Bread-French-Toast-Sticks-2-Barbara-Bakes

    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.

    Featured Image for post Hawaiian Sweet Bread French Toast Sticks
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    Hawaiian Sweet Bread French Toast Sticks

    Course: Pancakes and Waffles
    Keyword: baking, Breakfast, food, recipe
    Author: Barbara Schieving
    Prevent your screen from going to sleep

    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.
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    « Hawaiian Sweet Bread
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    About Melissa & Barbara

    As of June 2022 Melissa Griffiths now is the one adding recipes. So think of it as Barbara Bakes, and Melissa too! Melissa and Barbara have been blogging friends for over 10 years and when Barbara was ready to retire and spend more time with her family, Melissa took over the site. Read more...

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Cindy Harris

      March 26, 2013 at 1:17 pm

      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.

      Reply
    2. Nutmeg Nanny

      March 25, 2013 at 7:49 pm

      Wow, this is a fantastic way to brighten up the same old french toast recipe!

      Reply
    3. Angie@Angie's Recipes

      March 24, 2013 at 9:19 am

      What a fascinating idea! The sticks look so yum!

      Reply
    4. deeba

      March 24, 2013 at 6:07 am

      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!!

      Reply
    5. Maureen

      March 23, 2013 at 4:37 am

      Oh now I must make the Hawaiian bread so I can have French toast sticks. What a lovely anniversary holiday!

      Reply
    6. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella

      March 22, 2013 at 11:22 pm

      This sounds decadent but also worth every calorie too mum! 😀 xxx

      Reply
    7. Emily

      March 22, 2013 at 5:30 pm

      Can’t wait to try this!

      Reply
      • Barbara Schieving

        March 22, 2013 at 7:04 pm

        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.

        Reply
    8. Carole Resnick

      March 22, 2013 at 4:23 pm

      I am going to cheat on this one. Recently won a Kings Hawaiian gift pack. Waiting for shipment. Will use bread for this.

      Reply
      • Barbara Schieving

        March 22, 2013 at 4:36 pm

        Sounds like a great idea to me. Enjoy!

        Reply
    9. Melissa B

      March 22, 2013 at 3:37 pm

      This recipe for French Toast sticks sounds so good! =)
      Thanks for sharing!

      Melissa

      Reply
    10. Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar

      March 22, 2013 at 11:23 am

      These sound like such a delight! Lovely idea!

      Reply
    11. Amanda

      March 22, 2013 at 8:11 am

      The bread looks wonderful Barbara, and such great presentation 🙂

      Reply
    12. Rosa

      March 22, 2013 at 6:58 am

      A great idea! This recipe is really original.

      Cheers,

      Rosa

      Reply
    13. Cookin Canuck

      March 22, 2013 at 6:46 am

      What a fantastic way to use Hawaiian sweet bread! We could definitely use some of that Hawaiian feel here right now.

      Reply
    14. Jen @ Savory Simple

      March 22, 2013 at 6:33 am

      What an interesting recipe! It sounds wonderful. Some day I’ll make it to Hawaii…

      Reply

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