Hong Kong Style French Toast with Milk Tea Butter
This Hong Kong Style French Toast with Milk Tea Butter recipe is my love letter to the classic loved Hong Kong staple! Hong Kong style French toast is traditionally filled with peanut butter, then dipped with egg, deep fried, and served with butter and/or a drizzle of condensed milk. Sounds AMAZING right?! Because yes, it is! You can usually find Hong Kong French Toast in a “Cha Chain Teng”, similar to American diners.
My version of the Hong Kong Style French Toast is all the great things, just a litttttle bit more EXTRA, because that’s how I live haha! I added a black sesame paste inside along with the peanut butter, coated the whole thing not only in egg but crushed Corn Pops cereal to give it an extra crunch! Then, I topped with it a homemade milk tea butter that could almost be the star of this whole dish if the French toast weren’t so damn good!
Tips For Making Hong Kong Style French Toast
- Don’t overfill or put way too much filling inside or the filling may leak out while frying
- When dipping sandwich into egg mixture, QUICKLY dip until just fully coated, don’t leave the sandwich in the egg mixture or SOAK it; it will become too soggy!
- Make sure oil is heated to 350 degrees F for frying. When oil is too low, the bread may soak up too much oil. When oil is too high, it will burn your French toast too quickly instead of leaving it perfectly golden brown.
- Serve immediately with toppings– Hong Kong Style French Toast is best enjoyed while it’s still warm, when the outside is perfectly crispy and the inside perfectly soft and fluffy with a warm filling!
What You’ll Need
Equipment
- Small saucepan
- Whisk or electric hand held mixer
- Small food processor or cheap coffee grinder
- Heavy-bottomed pot for deep frying
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter
- Black tea bags or loose leaf tea
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Black sesame seeds
- Granulated sugar
- Coconut oil
- Sliced white bread (preferably milk bread)
- Peanut butter
- Eggs
- Milk
- Corn Pops cereal
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
How to Make Hong Kong Style French Toast with Milk Tea Butter
- Prepare the milk tea butter by melting butter and steeping tea leaves in it. Let cool and then whip until smooth and a bit fluffy. Whip in the sweetened condensed milk.
- Make the black sesame paste: toast black sesame seeds, then grind them in a food processor or coffee grinder until the oils release. Add sugar and melted coconut oil, grind until smooth paste is formed.
- Make Hong Kong Style French Toast: Spread peanut butter on one slice of bread and black sesame paste on the other. Sandwich together, dip in egg mixture, coat well with crushed Corn Pops, and deep fry for about 2 minutes on each side, until deep golden brown. Serve immediately with a scoop of Milk Tea butter, drizzle of condensed milk, and topped with crushed peanuts, pistachios, and/or sesame seeds!
Other Recipes You’ll Love!
Chinese Bakery Hot Dog Bao Rolls
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Hong Kong Style French Toast with Milk Tea Butter
Hong Kong style french toast is traditionall served in "cha chaan teng", Cantonese diners, in Hong Kong. It is usually just filled with peanut butter, dipped in egg, and deep fried to perfection! But I added black sesame paste inside along with the classic peanut butter, coated it in corn pops cereal for extra crunch, and topped with a MILK TEA BUTTER!
Ingredients
for milk tea butter
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 black tea bags (or loose leaf tea)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons (13g) sweetened condensed milk
for black sesame paste
- 1/4 cup (30g) black sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon (13g) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoon (25g) coconut oil, melted
for french toast
- 4 slices of white bread of choice (usually made with milk bread)
- 1/3 cup (or more) creamy peanut butter
- black sesame paste (from above)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup (80g) milk of choice
- 2 cups Corn Pops cereal, crushed (optional)
- vegetable oil for deep frying
toppings (optional)
- More sweetened condensed milk to drizzle
- Crushed peanuts or pistachios
- Black and white sesame seeds
Instructions
Prep the Milk Tea Butter
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, don't let it boil. Over very low heat, cut open the tea bags and stir in the tea leaves. Let the tea leaves steep over very low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat and let the leaves continue to steep for another 10 minutes. Pour butter through a fine mesh seive into a medium bowl, pressing the leaves to extract as much butter as possible. Discard tea leaves and set butter aside to cool or chill in fridge-- don't chill for too long! You want the butter to solidify but not be too cold!
Make Black Sesame Paste
- Place black sesame seeds in a small pan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Toast the seeds for about 5-7 minutes, until you hear some popping sounds or the seeds smell very nutty and aromatic. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- Place toasted sesame seeds into a small food processor or coffee grinder (this worked best for me in a cheap coffee grinder). Grind the seeds up until the oils are released. Add sugar and melted coconut oil and grind until smooth. It may be a little clumpy but all the seeds should be ground down. Set aside.
Whip the Milk Tea Butter
- Now that the butter is solidified but still room temp, whip it with an electric hand mixer until smooth and a bit fluffy. Beat in the sweetened condensed milk until well combined. Set aside.
Make the Hong Kong Style French Toast
- Heat up a few inches of vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed pot to 350°F.
- Spread peanut butter on two slices of bread. Spread black sesame paste on the other two slices. Sandwich together the black sesame slices with the peanut butter slices.
- In a medium shallow bowl, whisk together 2 eggs and milk. Place crushed corn pops cereal onto another large plate. Dip each sandwich well in the egg mixture, making sure to coat all the sides as well, then dip them into the crushed cereal to coat well.
- Carefully lower each sandwhich into the oil, cooking for about 2 minutes on each side until golden brown. Place the cooked french toasts onto a paper towl to soak up excess oil.
- Serve right away with a generous scoop of milk tea butter, a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk, and optionally, some crushed peanuts and more sesame seeds on top!