Baked French Toast - Club Baked

Many times when you read the list of ingredients for a French toast recipe, you'll find it calls for Challah bread. I never seem to be able to locate it and always use a thick toast of some sort. Last weekend while shopping at Trader Joe's, I was thrilled to find Challah.

Baked French toast recipes are perfect for this busy holiday season. You can make it the night before and bake it the next morning. We almost always have some sort of overnight dish on Christmas morning.

My favorite part of this recipe is the raspberry syrup. Yummy! It reminds me of eating at one of those pancake houses where you have all of these flavors of syrup to choose from but tastes so much better!!!

We liked but didn't love this recipe. The 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon wasn't nearly enough. I added more, maybe up to a teaspoon but still thought it lacked cinnamon flavor. I am going to make this recipe again for Christmas using a local bakeries French toast bread which is loaded in cinnamon.


Our host for this month seems to be MIA, so I'll be sharing the recipe with all of you.
You'll find the links to the other bakers French toast here!

Baked French Toast
Recipe Courtesy of Baked Explorations

Ingredients

For the Baked French Toast
1 loaf French, Italian or Challah bread, about 11 ounces
5 large eggs
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup whole skinned almonds, coarsely chopped

For the Raspberry Sauce
1 cup fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice or raspberry liqueur

Generously butter the sides and bottom of an 8 inch square baking pan. Cut the loaf into 1 or 1 1/2 inch slices and arrange in the pan.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until the just break up. Add the half and half, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon. Whisk until combined. Pour the mixture over the bread slices. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Use your fingers to flip each bread slice over, making sure to coat the entire surface with liquid. Arrange the bread in an overlapping pattern, sprinkle it with almonds, and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until French toast is golden brown and the mixture is puffy. Set the French toast aside to cool in the pan.

Make the Raspberry Sauce
In a small saucepan, toss the raspberries with the sugar. Cook the mixture over low heat until the berries start to break down, about 10 minutes. Strain the cooked raspberry sauce into a bowl to remove the seeds, then stir in the lemon juice.

Assemble the French Toast

Pour the raspberry sauce directly over the warm French toast (or serve it alongside in a gravy boat) and serve immediately. Top with whole fresh raspberries, if you have any left over.
Bakers Note: If you are interested in a creamier bread pudding type recipe, increase the half and half to 1 cup and the milk to 3/4 cup. And any hearty, crusty white bread makes a great substitute for the baguette.

Worlds Best French Toast

When we were in Cabo a few weeks ago, we had breakfast at a great little restaurant, Mama's. Mama's boasts they have the "Worlds Best French Toast". It's their version of Stuffed French Toast.

I wanted to recreate this dish! After reading the recipe, I realized I don't really have a flambe pan. Probably not a good idea to flambe in non stick! The only french bread in the freezer was baguettes. Not a good size for french toast. With stuffed french toast as my inspiration, this is my version of the "Worlds Best French Toast". Maybe not the world's best but we thought it was pretty darn good.


Stuffed French Toast w/Banana Syrup

French Toast
1 serving
2 slices White Bread (I used sourdough)
Strawberry Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 Egg
2 T. Milk
1 t. vanilla
1 T. Butter

Spread cream cheese on one side of slices the bread. Make a sandwich out of the bread.
Whisk egg, milk and vanilla.Dip the bread in the egg mixture, making sure it is is coated well.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Once the butter is hot, add the bread and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side.

Syrup

1 banana, sliced in 1/2 inch slices
2 T. Honey
1/2 t. cinnamon
2 T. Pecans, roughly chopped

Melt butter in a skillet over medium high heat, stir in honey. Once combined, add cinnamon and pecans. Once the sauce is bubbling, add the banana and cook an additional minute or two. Don't overcook or the banana will get too soft.

Pour over French Toast. Garnish with powdered sugar, if desired.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum and Fat Camp Friday at Mangoes and Chutney.

French Toast

Alton Brown is one of my favorite Food Network chefs. French Toast is a weekend breakfast favorite at our house. Imagine my delight when looking for a new French Toast recipe to try, I found Alton's recipe. I have lots of french toast recipes that require soaking overnight, baking in the oven and consquently take quite a bit of time. I was looking to spice up a quicker version of French Toast.

I added vanilla and cinnamon to the recipe. Vanilla and cinnamon are two of my favorite flavors, especially in French Toast. Alton's recipe browns the French Toast on the stove top and then finishes it in the oven. I decided to just make it in my electric griddle and it turned out fine.

This French Toast is amazingly delicious! The addition of the honey gives it a nice sweet flavor and the half and half adds a bit of extra richness. Okay after all the holiday goodies we have eaten, did we need this richness. No, but it sure tasted good!




French Toast
Adapted from Alton Brown

1 cup half-and-half
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey, warmed in microwave for 20 seconds
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 (1/2-inch) slices day-old or stale country loaf, brioche or challah bread
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

In medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the half-and-half, eggs, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. You may do this the night before. When ready to cook, pour custard mixture into a pie pan and set aside.

Preheat a stove top or electric griddle to medium heat/350 degrees. Melt the butter.

Dip bread into mixture, allow to soak for 30 seconds on each side, and then remove to a cooling rack that is sitting in a sheet pan, and allow to sit for 1 to 2 minutes.

Place slices of bread into the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 5 minutes per side. Serve immediately with maple syrup, whipped cream or fruit.