Case in point: today's brunch, stuffed french toast with strawberry preserves. Oh, and sorry for the less than stellar photos - I was busy eating this goodness, not staging it :)
I was craving something sweet and breakfasty for lunch today. Thoughts of croque monsieur sandwiches danced in my head. Not just any croque monsieur with your grilled ham and cheese - but the Americanized version they serve at restaurants like Bennigan's, (do those even exist anymore?) the kind that's dipped in batter and fried. And then served with powdered sugar and jam. It turns out a little bit like a french toast sandwich and it's so yummy. No restaurant in Philly has properly adulterated the classic French snack quite like it. (At least that I've tried - but do let me know if you find one!) But I figured I was really interested in the french toast part so I headed home to see what would suffice.
It's Sunday, the day before grocery shopping day around here, which means the cupboard is at it's barest. There was one slice of bread in the fridge. That would not do. But we did have some extra hot-dog buns! Not ideal, but the whole wheat buns weren't that great with hot dogs anyways and deserved a transformation. I ended up cutting the buns into four thinner bun slices to create thinner pieces and maximize the porous bread surface.
Thankfully we did have eggs, milk and other necessary ingredients for french toast. We also happened to have on hand cream cheese - a wonderful addition for stuffed french toast. Even BETTER! So I made us some stuffed french toast sandwiches (on hotdog buns) topped with your choice of powdered sugar, strawberry jam, and syrup. Or in the case of my choice, all three :)
And despite the whole wheat hot dog buns, these turned out GREAT! Even though I typically don't measure things out when cooking from the cupboard, I'm including an approximation of my recipe below. Of course, the beauty of cooking from the cupboard is that you can easily substitute what you have in your cupboard. No cinnamon? Leave it out or try something like nutmeg, allspice, ground ginger if you have those lying around. No vanilla? Leave that out, or maybe you have almond extract instead. Powdered sugar can be subbed for regular granulated, or stevia powder or other sugar alternative. I don't usually have cream cheese in the fridge and I wouldn't have originally attempted an alternative stuffing, but cottage cheese or ricotta could be interesting with the right seasonings. It would definitely take some tweaking though.
Stuffed French Toast
(makes 2 stuffed french toast sandwiches)
Ingredients
For toast:
4 slices of whatever bread you have in the cupboard (or 2 hot dog buns, with top and bottom each cut in half lengthwise)
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
your preferred fat for your pan
For filling:
1/4 cup cream cheese (or 2 oz)
2 tsp powdered sugar
dash of vanilla extract
dash of cinnamon
Toppings:
syrup
powdered sugar
strawberry preserves
(all are optional, as desired)
Directions:
- Mix eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon together. Set aside
- Blend cream cheese, sugar, dash of vanilla and cinnamon until thoroughly combined.
- Spread half of cream cheese mixture on one piece of bread. Put another piece on top to create sandwich. Repeat with other two pieces of bread.
- Heat large skillet on stove over medium heat and coat with your preferred fat. I used my Misto with olive oil, but any spray oil or butter would work well.
- Pour half of egg mixture into shallow dish and dip sandwich in it. Flip sandwich so both sides soak up egg mixture. Repeat with other half of egg mix and other sandwich.
- Place french toast sandwiches in the skillet. Cook on both sides until golden brown. Depending on how thick and eggy your bread is, you may want to cut each sandwich diagonally in half with your spatula and turn the pieces on their edges to cook it all around as well.
- Remove from heat and serve immediately with your favorite toppings. Syrup, powdered sugar, and strawberry preserves recommended.
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