French Toast Sticks with Blueberry Maple Syrup

 Weekends are a time for making delicious breakfast treats and these French Toast Sticks are something the entire family will enjoy. Crispy on the outside, puffy and creamy on the inside, the blueberry syrup makes these extra special. This recipe can be doubled or tripled quite easily to serve as many people as you are willing. If serving more than two, preheat your oven to 250°F and make the sticks in batches, keeping the finished ones warm in the oven while working on additional batches.

French Toast Sticks with Blueberry Maple Syrup

Serves 2

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons Melissa's dried blueberries

2 extra-large eggs

1/2 cups half-and-half or milk

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon Melissa's Organic Blue Agave Syrup (or good, organic honey)

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

2 large slices challah

Unsalted butter

Vegetable oil 

Pour the desired amount of maple syrup into a microwave safe bowl. Stir in blueberries. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Set aside to allow the blueberries to plump in the syrup while you make the French Toast Sticks.

In a 9" x 9" baking dish, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, orange zest, cinnamon, vanilla, agave syrup or honey, and salt. Slice the challah into 1-inch wide by 3/4-inch thick slices. Soak sticks in the egg mixture for 5 minutes, turning once.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil in a very large sauté pan over medium heat until hot. Add the soaked bread and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Plate and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Serve hot with maple syrup for dipping, or go for broke and pour the syrup over the sticks. 

This post is linked to:

Wow Us Wednesday
Work It Wednesday

What’s It Wednesday

Before and After Wednesday

Wake up Wednesday

The Homemaking Party

Baked Banana French Toast with Ginger-Maple Syrup

It you are unfamiliar with Sam Hoffer and her wonderful blog, My Carolina Kitchen, you need to hop on over (when you're finished reading here, of course) and check it out. It was here that I learned that Lilly Pulitzer, who recently passed away, published two delightful books on cooking and entertaining. Within minutes of having read this post, I headed out to locate them.  Fluffy and fun, just reading them made me feel like I was on vacation in Palm Beach, inhaling the salty air and sipping cocktails with friends.  Both photos and text will make you smile, the recipes will have you salivating. I have a long list of those I hope to try, and if they are all as good as this one, I will be a happy camper.

Just in time for Mother's Day...

Baked Banana French Toast

with Ginger-Maple Syrup

From Essentially Lilly by Lilly Pulitzer and Jay Mulvaney

Put this dish together the night before; the next morning it will be ready to serve after only half an hour of baking. Lightly toasting the challah makes stuffing it easier; skip the toasting step if using a day-old loaf.

Serves 2

1 to 1-1/2-inch-thick slices challah

1 large banana, cut on diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick slices

2 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1/4 cup whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 tablespoon minced candied ginger

1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Powdered sugar

Butter small baking dish (9x9x2-inch square cake pan or similar).  Lightly toast challah. Using small sharp knife, cut slit in bottom edge of each slice of bread to form pocket; insert 3 to 4 slices of banana in each. Place stuffed bread in single layer in prepared dish.

Whisk eggs in medium bowl to blend. Add milk, cream, and vanilla, and whisk to blend well. Pour mixture over bread slices in dish, basting to coat well. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Combine syrup and ginger in small saucepan; cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Uncover French toast and bake until puffed and just beginning to brown on top, about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, heat syrup-ginger mixture over low heat.

Sprinkle baked French toast with toasted almonds and powdered sugar, and serve warm with syrup.

This post is linked to:

Sweets for a Saturday

Sugar and Spice

Sunday Sweeties

Seasonal Sundays

Pumpkin French Toast

One of the great things about baking yesterday’s challah was that today I could have French Toast for breakfast…PUMPKIN French Toast.  What a taste treat for the coming fall days.  Spicy and delicious it is certainly unique to all of the other recipes that I’ve tried.  Bake up a loaf of pumpkin challah and give this delicious breakfast dish a try.

Pumpkin French Toast

3 extra-large eggs

3/4 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 teaspoons honey

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large loaf pumpkin challah bread

Unsalted butter

Vegetable oil

To serve:

Pure maple syrup

Sifted confectioners' sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, honey, and salt. Slice the challah in ¾” thick slices. Soak as many slices in the egg mixture as possible for 3-5 minutes, turning once.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil in a very large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the soaked bread and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Place the cooked French toast on a sheet pan and keep it warm in the oven. Fry the remaining soaked bread slices, adding butter and oil as needed, until it's all cooked. Serve hot with maple syrup and confectioners' sugar.

Chocolate Challah Bread

I have no idea just what it was that got me thinking about bread baking today, as the temperatures topped 100 degrees, or why I wondered about how I could make a chocolate version, but before I knew it I was in the kitchen, putting this recipe together and the results were just what I was hoping for.  And, it turns out, this type of weather is just perfect for bread baking because nothing makes bread rise better than a moist heat.  The beauty of this recipe is that it is largely done in the bread machine, so very little work goes into the early stages.  I can see that it is going to make an excellent base for the Chocolate French Toast I’ve been considering as well as inspiration for what I hope will be a sinfully delicious Chocolate Bread Pudding.

A word of warning to those of you who are licking your lips and thinking dessert, this is not a sweet loaf.  I hadn’t intended it to be.  I was looking for a chocolate challah that was not so sweet as to make any dessert (or breakfast dish) that I had planned to be cloying.  It is, however, the perfect challah texture, the perfect amount of chocolate, and excellent toasted and slathered with butter, peanut butter, marshmallow fluff, or Nutella.  Make a loaf and see for yourself, and then tell me what you plan to do with yours (if any of it is left!).

Chocolate Challah Bread (Bread Machine)

Adapted from 100 Bread Machine Recipes by Vicki Smallwood
1 pinch saffron threads

1 tablespoon water, boiling

2 eggs, beaten

3 tablespoons honey

2/3 cup hot water (100F-105F)

5 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon espresso powder

Pinch of cinnamon

¼ cup Dutch cocoa powder

3 ¼  cups white bread flour

1 ½  teaspoons yeast

¼ cup Ghirardelli Semisweet Mini Chocolate Chips

To Finish

1 egg, beaten for brushing over

Directions

·                    In a small bowl, soak the saffron threads in the 1 tablespoon of boiling water for 10 minutes.

 ·                    In the meantime, place the beaten eggs, honey, hot water and melted butter in a bowl. Mix well.

·                    Add the saffron threads with the soaking water, stir and pour the mixture into the baking pan of your bread machine.

 ·                    Mix the salt into the flour and add to the baking pan and spoon the yeast on top.

 ·                    Set the program to 'DOUGH.'  When the dough is ready (mine takes 90 minutes), transfer it to a lightly floured surface and knead it for 2-3 minutes, incorporasting the chocolate chips. (The dough will feel quite soft and silky.)

 ·                    Shape the dough into 3 equal-sized pieces, then roll each piece into a sausage shape measuring approximately 12 inches in length.

 ·                    Pinch the top end of each length of dough together, then weave the pieces into a braid/plait.

 ·                    Pinch the bottom ends together, then tuck both ends under the dough to form a neatly braided loaf.

 ·                    Place the dough on a greased baking sheet, brush with oil, cover with plastic wrap/cling film and leave it to rise/prove in a warm place.

 ·                    Preheat the oven 220C/425°F.

 ·                    When the dough has nearly doubled in size, remove the plastic wrap and lightly brush the top   of the loaf with the beaten egg.

 ·                    Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

 ·                    Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and leave it to cool before serving.

This post is linked to:

On the Menu Monday

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

What's Cooking Wednesday

Foodie Friday

Sunday's Best Party