Watch Me Make It!

Who doesn’t love a good French toast recipe? Today, I’m taking things up a notch with this incredible Stuffed French Toast. It’s a perfect balance of creamy, tangy blueberry cream cheese packed inside sweet Hawaiian rolls, cooked to golden perfection on the outside.

If you're anything like me, you love it when breakfast feels a little bit indulgent—and this is the perfect dish for that. Whether you’re whipping it up for a weekend brunch or treating yourself on a random weekday morning, this French toast recipe is going to make your day.  This is an easy recipe that everyone will enjoy.  In my opinion, this is the best french toast recipe ever!

Let's Prep:

One of the reasons that this french toast recipe is so delicious is because I prefer to use King’s Hawaiian Rolls. You get the sweetness from the fresh bread, but also the savory buttery taste of the rolls naturally. They are soft and pillowy which is perfect to absorb the butter, and they crisp up nicely on the griddle.

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If you don’t have any Hawaiian rolls handy, you can also use a brioche bread, this is best done with a Texas toast style slice of bread (thick bread slices). For this method of cooking usually 1-2 slices of bread will be enough for the average eater.  French bread also works too.

This is a more traditional choice for a french toast recipe, and if you wanted to stuff it, you could butterfly it open horizontally, then fill the inside and continue cooking the same way.  Just make sure that you're using bread as fresh as you can get from your grocery store, you don't want stale bread in this recipe!

For the filling in this french toast recipe, we’ve kept things pretty simple here. I’m using blueberry flavored cream cheese from the store. You could get creative with this and make your own, or even use plain cream cheese with fresh fruit, or jelly/ jam if you wish, as these are among the many great options. There are many, many ways to vary this french toast recipe.

As an example of the above, if you wanted to fill with peanut butter and bananas or nutella, that'd be great too.

Check out my King's Hawaiian Pretzel Bite Jalapeno Popper recipe!

Next you’ll want to use a sharp knife to carefully make a hole in the side of each roll, just about the size of a quarter. One important thing you'll want to be sure to do is to not discard, or eat, the piece of bread that you remove from the side of the Hawaiian roll after you cut it. Don’t toss out that little piece of bread though—you’ll need it to close up the hole after stuffing the rolls with cream cheese. Think of it like a little cap that keeps all that creamy goodness from escaping while the french toast cooks.

If you want to make life easier when it comes to stuffing the rolls, grab yourself a piping bag. I usually transfer my cream cheese into one for this step, and it makes the process super quick and mess-free. No piping bag? No problem. Just use a plastic sandwich bag, snip off the corner, and you're all set! You’ve got a homemade piping bag.

Once you’ve filled all your rolls with that delicious cream cheese, pop the bread plug back in, and you’re all set for the next step. Don’t worry if a little cream cheese spills out—that’s just a sneak peek of the gooey, melty filling that’s coming your way.

Let’s Make the Batter for this french toast recipe!

Now, what’s a french toast recipe without a perfectly seasoned batter? This part is crucial for that classic french toast flavor we all know and love. To get the egg mixture: In a small bowl, whisk together your whole milk (you can sub for oat milk if you need a non-dairy milk), eggs, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon. I like to add a generous pinch of cinnamon to my batter because it really gives the french toast recipe a deeper flavor profile.  

Normally you'd also add some brown sugar.  I've decided against that here because we are going to be rolling in sugar to finish. If you’re a fan of nutmeg or allspice, feel free to toss a tiny bit of that in as well. The spices are what really make the batter stand out, so don’t be afraid to experiment a little.

Make sure your eggs and milk are well combined in the batter. You want everything to be smooth so that it coats the bread evenly. Once your batter is ready, it’s time to move on to cooking!

Let's Cook: 

This is best part where the magic happens. Cooking your french toast recipe is all about patience and timing. Start by heating up your griddle to medium-high heat. If you don’t have a griddle, a large nonstick skillet will work just fine. The key here is to get the surface hot enough to give the french toast a golden, crispy edges without burning it, just until golden brown.

Before you add the rolls to the griddle, melt a good amount of butter on the surface, you could use cooking spray also, I prefer butter for the extra flavor it gives. This helps create that crispy, buttery crust that makes french toast recipes so irresistible. Butter also gives the rolls a nice golden color, which is exactly what you’re looking for. Once the butter starts to bubble, carefully place each stuffed roll onto the griddle.

The trick to this french toast recipe is making sure the rolls cook evenly on all sides. You’ll want to cook them for about one minute per side, but keep an eye on them because every griddle is different. Some griddles have hot spots, meaning certain areas get hotter than others. Make sure to rotate the rolls as they cook so they don’t burn on one side. You’re looking for a nice golden-brown color on each side, and when you flip them, you should start to see some of that cream cheese peek out from the center—yum!  For example, if your griddle gets super-hot, quickly, you might just need 1 minute per side.

 If not, if could be 2-3 minutes per side, your cooking time will vary, you'll just need to keep an eye on them.  Note that when cooking on a griddle, it's not an exact science as far as cook time goes.  It could range from 2-3 minutes, to 3-4 minutes, I can't stress enough how important it is to just keep an eye on them as they cook - some extra time many be needed.

Once all the sides are perfectly golden and crispy, it’s time for the final touch—the cinnamon sugar coating. In a small bowl or shallow dish, mix together sugar and cinnamon (I use a 2:1 ratio of sugar to cinnamon). While the rolls are still hot from the griddle, roll each one in the cinnamon sugar mixture. The warmth from the rolls will help the cinnamon sugar stick to the surface, creating that sweet and spicy coating we all crave in a french toast recipe

Let's Eat:

My favorite part - the eating! It's time to enjoy the fruits of our labor with this delicious french toast recipe. These are best served warm, immediately when done cooking. You're going to get a delicious buttery outside that's got the crunch of sugar, with the creaminess of the filling inside. Absolutely hard to beat!

If you want to take it up a notch, you can sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top of each roll. If you wanted to change it up, you could pass on the cinnamon sugar in this french toast recipe, and opt for something more traditional like powdered sugar with a drizzle of maple syrup like you would with a more traditional french toast recipe.

Hosting brunch? These stuffed rolls will be the star of the show. They’re impressive to look at and even more impressive to eat. I like to serve mine with a side of fresh fruit or some crispy bacon for a balanced meal. This is one of those unique recipes that has familiar flavors and everyone is going to ask for the recipe! Send them my way.

Note: these can be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container for a quick breakfast on busy mornings before school or work.  If they last without being eaten, they will be good in there for 3-4 days.