Peaches & Cream Stuffed French Toast

This past week has been a complete whirlwind. Well, to be honest the last month has been one, between finishing up school work, finals, housework, regular work, etc. But Josh had show, after show, after show booked this past week, and it culminated in a weekend of almost non-stop movement. Friday night he played in Austin, Saturday evening in Addison, then later that night in Texarkana. When he plays in Austin our friends Niki & Veronica are kind enough to let us stay with them. To say thanks I brought some french toast fixings with us this time. Veronica picked up some fresh berries, mimosa fixings, and the milk that I'd forgotten to bring with me (d'oh!), and it all made for a delicious meal. After a pretty rushed week, it was nice to sit and have a good breakfast with good friends before we hit the road again.

Peaches & Cream Stuffed French Toast
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart; Serves 4

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup peach preserves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon-sugar
8 slices challah, appx. 1" thick
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
Pinch of salt
Unsalted butter

• In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese, preserves, and cinnamon-sugar until well blended.
• Using a small knife, cut a slit in each slice of challah, lengthwise along the bottom to create a pocket.
• Fill each pocket with the cream cheese mixture and press slightly to seal, scraping off any excess from the bottom of the bread.
• Whisk together eggs, milk, and salt in a bowl.
• Soak both sides of each slice of bread in the egg mixture very well.
  
• Heat butter in skillet or griddle over medium heat. Fry bread until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Serve warm. You can keep prepared slices warm in the oven while you continue cooking the rest.

My notes: I use a stripped down version of a Martha Stewart recipe for the batter, and created the stuffing mixture on my own. I sliced and stuffed the challah Friday morning, so at Niki & Veronica's on Saturday I just had to whip up the batter and get to griddling. I kept the bread refrigerated until about an hour before I cooked it. This came out really yummy. I think I could have fit a bit more filling into some of the slices, so I'm going to try and get them a bit fuller next time. I had some filling leftover, which is excellent on a bagel, or leftover challah slices.

Bonjour Breakfast!

Okay, I'll give you a little break from the spinach with a yummy breakfast. Sorry the posts are fewer and far-between, but I've just got a lot of stuff going on. It's just one of those times when it's easier to make fast and familiar things, meaning not much new to share. Anyway, recently I decided to do a little experiment in freezing bread. I love to buy fresh sourdough and challah from the Central Market bakery, but with just the two of us we either have to throw ourselves under the power of white flour full-time (not too healthy) or some of it goes to waste (not too frugal). This time I packaged up pairs of slices in plastic wrap, then foil, and popped them in freezer bags. This has turned out really well, so far. Last weekend I made some really yummy french toast with the challah. I used a Martha Stewart recipe as a sort of guideline, and did some tweaking based on serving size.

French Toast
Adapted from Martha Stewart; Serves 2












4 slices challah bread, about 1" thick each
4 eggs
3/4 cup soy milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Butter

• Whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla and salt in a bowl; set aside.
• Place bread in a shallow baking dish large enough to hold bread slices in a single layer. Pour egg mixture over bread; soak 10 minutes.
• Heat butter in skillet over medium heat. Fry bread until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Serve warm.

My notes: I used this Martha recipe, eliminating a few things I didn't care for (nutmeg) and adjusting a bit for what I had on hand (soy milk) and serving size. I probably could have done with one less egg too. The recipe tells you to soak for 20 minutes, 10 on each side. My bread filled my shallow pie dish, and from the lack of space was very well soaked through with just the first 10 minutes. Also, Martha suggests using butter and vegetable oil for frying, but I just went with butter and have no regrets. :) If you're making more servings then you can keep your first batches warm in a 250 degree oven.