Give Your French Toast A Festive Fall Twist With Pumpkin

When fall rolls around, pumpkin spice fever permeates the air. Maybe you've already made pumpkin soup for dinner this season, or maybe you start your mornings with a pumpkin spice latte. Today, we're talking about another autumnal morning mood booster sure to give your breakfast table a festive fall twist: Pumpkin french toast.

All it takes to bring your classic French toast to the next level this season is one ingredient: Pumpkin puree. (And, of course, a pumpkin spice blend including cinnamon, nutmeg, and/or others.) Chances are your local grocery store offers a variety of canned pumpkins, or if you're feeling adventurous, you can also try out this homemade pumpkin puree. Not only will your taste buds be happy, but your body will thank you, too. Pumpkins are packed with beta-carotene, which is especially impressive considering they're 94% water. According to Healthline, just one cup of cooked pumpkin contains 2 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, 11% of the recommended daily intake (RDI) for vitamin B2, 8% of the RDI for iron, and a whopping 245% of the RDI for vitamin A, all for only 49 calories. So, if you're like us and have a scorching case of fall fever, here's how to make pumpkin French toast the superstar of your next brunch.

To transform your classic French toast into a pumpkin spice mouthful, simply add pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spices directly into your regular French toast egg batter, explains The Spruce Eats. To give all that flavor enough time to absorb, lifestyle blog The Manual recommends soaking each piece for a good 30 seconds. For more fall flair, you could use raisin bread and even garnish with pecans or roasted pumpkin seeds.

This seasonal breakfast might be impressive, but it's also refreshingly cost-effective. According to Tasting Table recipe developer Eric Ngo, all it takes to whip up a batch of swoon-worthy french toast is bread, eggs, sugar, vanilla, milk, and butter. At Whole Foods in Brooklyn (N.Y.), a dozen eggs cost $5.79, a quart of whole milk costs $4.39, a loaf of organic raisin bread costs $6.99, and a can of pumpkin puree runs $1.79.

Ngo's recipe yields three slices of french toast, which, adjusted, comes out to just $3.47 per serving, assuming you already have sugar, vanilla, spices, and butter in your kitchen ($1.10 for milk, $0.97 for eggs, and $1.40 for bread). Plus, per Creme de la Crumb, it only takes ⅔ cup of pumpkin puree to make 8 slices of french toast, which means you can make roughly 22 slices of French toast with one 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree. Or you could also grab that leftover pumpkin puree and give these Pumpkin Streusel Muffins or these Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes a try.