This is week 4 in the Farmhouse Holiday Series hosted by Kristen of Ella Claire Blog. We only have 1 more week left! This week we are each sharing our favorite holiday recipe and some of our kitchens decorated for Christmas.
Today I’m excited to share with you a traditional Christmas dish in Brazilian culture, Rabanada (In Portuguese it is pronounced, Ha-ba-NA-da).
Rabanada is a dessert served in most Brazilian households on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. I’m probably exaggerating a little… but everyone I know has it around the holidays because it is SO FREAKIN DELICIOUS. I’ve mentioned it before, but my husband is from Brazil and after 12 years of marriage, I’ve learned how to make several nostalgic dishes from his culture that remind him of home, but also teach our children an important part of their heritage. Rabanada is basically Brazilian French Toast. It is served warm or cold, and is always amazing. Printable recipe is at the bottom of this post.
I shared a bit of our kitchen on Thursday in my Holiday Home Tour, but here is another view…
My girl has actually been sick all week but was feeling a little better today, so she insisted on helping me make these.
Just like french toast we all are familiar with, it involves dipping bread in a milk/egg mixture and frying it in a pan. Unlike french toast, you HAVE to use actual french loaf bread cut into 1″ slices instead of sandwich break. The crust plays an important role in how it stands up to what you soak/dip it in.
Another thing which makes this french toast different, is the milk mixture is kept separate from the eggs. That way you can soak the bread a little longer in that sweet milky goodness, but don’t have to worry about salmonella poisoning (without the possibility of raw egg remaining in the bread). You mix regular milk with sweetened condensed milk (I also add a little vanilla). Cinnamon is added to the beaten eggs.
Oh this sweet girl… she loves to play the “I love your more than…” game… every day… randomly. 🙂 She is also a solid egg-cracker.
Basically you mix up your sugar and cinnamon mixture in one bowl, another bowl with milk, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla, and one last bowl with eggs and cinnamon. Once your pan is pre-heated with some oil (I prefer cast iron since it cooks more even), you dip in a few slices of french bread in the milk mixture. Hold them down for about 10-15 seconds. One-by-one you pull them out, dip them in the egg mixture (flipping over several times so it is fully coated), then place them in the pan to fry.
Each side takes about 3-5 minutes to brown, so once both sides are browned, place them on a napkin to absorb excess oil. By the time you have the next batch in the pan frying, those slices will be ready to be coated in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
These DO NOT need additional sweet toppings like syrup or jam or anything. They are super sweet and decadent all by themselves. And it is impossible to eat just one.
I put a few pomegranate seeds on top because I thought the tartness contrasted well with the sweetness of the bread (and it looks pretty and festive), but honestly, everyone else in my family prefers them by themselves.
These keep really well too, if you refrigerate them. Just make sure you DO in fact refrigerate them if you don’t plan on eating them within a 6 hours because ya know… they were soaked in an an abundant amount of dairy… 😉
You might think that this would be a great breakfast… which would make you most definitely American. Americans are all about sweet breakfasts (pancakes and french toast smothered in syrup, doughnuts, sweet cereals, etc)… Brazilians do not eat Rabanada for breakfast usually. Breakfast in Brazil consists of bread, cheese, maybe a slice of ham with your bread and cheese, fresh fruit, maybe a yogurt or smoothie.
Preeeeetty sure once you try these, you will have a hard time going back to regular french toast though…
So that’s it! I hope you enjoyed seeing our Christmas kitchen ‘in action’ and learning about one of the foods we love most around Christmas.
Ingredients
- 1 loaf of french bread
- 2 c. milk
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 T. vanilla extract
- 5 eggs
- 1 T. vegetable or canola oil
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 T. cinnamon
Instructions
- Place medium-sized frying pan on stove and heat to medium-low heat and add the tablespoon of oil. While it is warming up, cut the french bread into 1" thick slices and set aside.
- In a medium bowl mix the milk, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla with a whisk until combined.
- In small bowl, whisk the eggs together with the teaspoon of cinnamon.
- In another medium bowl, mix the sugar with the cinnamon until cinnamon is evenly distributed.
- Push a slice of french bread into the milk mixture so that it is completely submerged for 10-15 seconds. Lift it out of the milk mixture and gently shake it so the majority of the milk drips off. Turn the slice over in the egg mixture a couple times so it is completely coated and immediately place it in the frying pan.
- Once the pan has 3-4 slices, let them brown for a few minutes (peeking to make sure they don't brown too much), and flip to brown the other side. After both sides are cooked on the slices, remove and place them on a plate with a paper towel on top. This will absorb any oil residue. After a few minutes to cool, place each slice in the cinnamon sugar mix and flip so both sides are generously coated. Serve immediately.
Merry Christmas Baking! 🙂
Don’t forget to see the rest of the holiday kitchen and recipes from the rest of the Farmhouse Holiday Series bloggers below!
Ella Claire | Craftberry Bush | Love Grows Wild | Rooms For Rent
Jennifer Rizzo | Shades of Blue Interiors | Kindred Vintage | My Sweet Savannah
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That looks delicious! You did a great job on plating the food for photography. The colors together are outstanding and it makes me want to reach right into my computer monitor and scoop up a bite!
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
So Sweet cooking with your precious daughter ! Lovely Presentation! Thank you for the recipe. Happy Holidays!!
That recipe sounds so good. Your little girl is adorable. I’m so glad that she’s feeling better.
The recipe looks and sounds delicious. Of the 9 recipes, it’s the only one that doesn’t deep fry the bread slices. Can you get the slices crispy on the outside? I’d love it if I didn’t have to deep-fry the bread.
Hi Lee! Typically deep fry means the bread would be completely submerged in oil and fried– this just has a little in the pan when fried, so it technically isn’t deep fried. I don’t know of a way to get it crispy without using some sort of oil or butter in the pan to prevent the eggy “batter” from sticking to the pan. You can try using less oil and then you probably wouldn’t need to let the oil drain off in the paper towel after.
You state in the recipe 1 TB oil. If that is all you need, that’s great. I assume you would add that amount for each batch that you fry. Or am I not catching something?
Amazing! I lived in Brazil for a year and a half and miss this Christmas delight!!! I’ve tried several recipes and this recipe is the best!!! Love that I didn’t have to soak the bread overnight!!! I did use a lot more oil to fry it but followed everything else exactly!! Delicious!