Walnut Cheesecake French Toast Sticks, an easy French toast recipe stuffed with sweetened cream cheese and walnuts. Simple and delicious! The best stuffed French toast for Mother’s Day brunch! Fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside.
This post is sponsored by California Walnuts. All opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting brands I love so I can keep bringing you more fabulous recipes.
Mother’s Day is coming up soon, and I have the perfect brunch recipe for you, Walnut Cheesecake French Toast Sticks! These easy French toast sticks are stuffed with sweetened cream cheese and walnuts, and then coated with walnuts for a great crunch! Delicious!
So excited to be teaming up with California Walnuts to bring you this easy brunch recipe. We LOVE nuts here in our house, especially California walnuts. I put walnuts in all sorts of things, eat them whole as a snack, and keep a large bag of walnuts in our freezer at all times. You never know when you’ll need a quick snack, right?
I recently posted a fun recipe for Banana Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts, so thought a brunch recipe for Mother’s Day would be perfect for this time of year.
It’s so simple to add California walnuts to snacks, salads, side dishes, and main dishes to enhance flavor, texture, and for a little extra nutritious goodness. A little extra nutrition is always good, right? Walnuts are even certified by the American Heart Association with the Heart-Check Mark and also the only nut significantly high in Omega-3.
For this French toast recipe, you’ll need chopped walnuts and finely chopped walnuts. You can also garnish with a few whole walnuts too.
How to Store Walnuts:
If you love walnuts as much as I do, you may be wondering how to store them to keep them as fresh as long as possible.
To maintain that fresh taste of your California Walnuts, be sure to keep them cold! Walnuts can go bad when kept in warm temperatures for a long time.
Store the walnuts in the sealed bag or original packaging. After opening, put the walnuts in an airtight container. If you’re going to use the walnuts soon, store them in the refrigerator. If you’re going to store them for a month or longer, keep them in your freezer.
Remember, cold is good!
How to Make Walnut Cheesecake French Toast Sticks:
Now that you have your California walnuts ready to go, get started on these Walnut Cheesecake French Toast Sticks.
First make the walnut cheesecake filling. Mix the softened cream cheese, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and salt in a mixing bowl until well combined. You can use regular or low-fat cream cheese, but be sure it’s softened to room temperature so that it’s not lumpy when mixed with the other ingredients.
Stir in the chopped walnuts into the cream cheese mixture. You can toast the walnuts before if you have extra time, but you don’t have to. You can chop the walnuts as finely or as coarse as you’d like.
When your filling is all combined, set it aside.
Next, whisk together the eggs, milk, and salt in a large shallow bowl until well combined. Pie plates work great for this! You want to make sure you use some type of container that is large and shallow enough to dip your bread in.
In another shallow bowl, add the finely chopped California walnuts, then set both bowls aside.
Next, place your bread on a cutting board or work surface. When choosing bread for French toast, I suggest a good quality day old bread so the bread is not too soft. You can use any type of bread you’d like such as white, Italian, French, brioche, or even cinnamon raisin would be great.
I cut the crust off of my bread, but you can leave it if you’d like. Depending on the size of your bread slices, you may get more or less French toast sticks.
Spread some of the cream cheese and walnut filling over half of the bread slices, then top with the remaining bread slices to form “sandwiches”.
Cut each sandwich into “sticks”. I cut each sandwich into 3 sticks, but again, depending on the size of your bread you may want to cut into more or less sticks. If you’d rather just stuffed French toast and not sticks, you don’t have to cut the bread.
Dip each French toast stick in the egg mixture and turn to coat all sides. Then dip the sticks in the finely chopped walnuts.
Keep dipping the sticks one at a time, until all the sticks are coated with walnuts.
Place each dipped French toast stick on a large plate or lined baking sheet. I like to use a large baking sheet lined with a silicone mat. Set the sticks aside while you get your pan ready to cook.
Melt about 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. Depending on the size of your pan, you may need more or less butter to coat the bottom of the pan.
Once the pan is hot, and the butter has melted, cook the French toast sticks in batches on the pan for about 2-4 minutes per side or until heated through and golden brown and crispy on the outside.
Be careful to not cook the French toast sticks too long, so that the walnuts don’t burn.
These Walnut Cheesecake French Toast Sticks, are crispy on the outside, and soft and fluffy on the inside. The cheesecake filling is a nice surprise when biting into them!
You can garnish these Walnut Cheesecake French Toast Sticks with whole California walnuts and fresh fruit such as fresh raspberries or strawberries.
Serve these French toast sticks with a little warm maple syrup for dipping. Instead of maple syrup, you could also serve with your favorite syrup or ice cream topping like caramel! Or skip the syrups all together and dust with a little powdered sugar instead.
For a fun twist, you could even add a little fresh orange zest or your favorite liqueur to the filling for these French toast sticks.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! Would love to hear what you’re all doing for your mom!
Hope you enjoy these Walnut Cheesecake French Toast Sticks with California Walnuts!
For more delicious walnut recipes and information, visit walnuts.org and be sure to also check out California Walnuts on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
Walnut Cheesecake French Toast Sticks
Ingredients
Filling:
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup California walnuts chopped
French Toast:
- 4 large eggs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups California walnuts finely chopped
- 10 slices bread (crust removed if desired)
- 1-3 tablespoons butter (for cooking)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the softened cream cheese, maple syrup, vanilla, and 1/8 teaspoon salt until well combined. Stir in the 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts. Set aside.
- In a large shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and 1/8 teaspoon salt until well combined. Set aside.
- Place 2 cups finely chopped walnuts into a large shallow bowl.
- Spread the cream cheese filling on half of the bread slices, top with remaining bread. Cut into long sticks, about 3 sticks each to make 15 sticks.
- Dip each French toast stick into egg mixture on all sides, then roll in finely chopped walnuts. Place on a large plate or lined baking sheet.
- Place about 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. Once butter has melted and pan is hot, cook French toast sticks about 2-4 minutes per side or until golden brown. Cook in batches as necessary.
Notes
Nutrition:
(Nutrition data is provided when available for informational purposes only and calculated using an online nutritional calculator. For the most accurate information please calculate based on specific ingredients and brands you use as well as any changes you made to the recipe. I am not a certified nutritionist or registered dietician and any nutritional information provided should only be used as a general guideline and estimate.)
Julia says
Wow! I am so trying this! And you are absolutely right when it comes to storing walnuts. From my experience, the freezer is the best option.
Jill says
Such a delicious looking breakfast that I definitely need to try!
Dawn - Girl Heart Food says
These are so fun! Love the flavours, especially the walnuts. Great for this weekend’s brunch ;)
Mike @ ASaucyKitchen says
Cheesecake AND french toast in one dessert? That sounds like a match made in heaven. Thanks for sharing.
Carrie says
These are so creative and sound sooo delicious, definitely something I want to try!