Creme Brulee French Toast

Christmas Eve this year turned out very snowy for the few of us down in Southern Utah, Matt and I and my parents.  The weather ended up being too bad to travel up north to visit my sisters and their families for Christmas Eve, so we made the best of it (which ended up being an awesome time with my parents).  We made a special breakfast Christmas morning, including this amazingly rich and delicious Crème Brulee French Toast… and double sausage, which Matt always got on Christmas morning.  A Merry Christmas to both of us.  I think I might make this a Christmas morning tradition, but you should not wait until next Christmas to try it!

Crème Brulee French Toast

From Sixsistersstuff.com

1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp corn syrup
1 loaf Texas Toast bread or other thick sliced bread (I just bought French bread and cut into thick slices)
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of cinnamon

In a small saucepan melt butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup over medium heat until smooth, stirring occasionally.  Pour mixture onto large, greased jelly roll pan (18x13x1").  Spread around to cover surface. Place 12 slices of bread in a single layer to cover pan.  Mix together eggs, cream, salt, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Spoon mixture over each piece of bread.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.  Remove from pan and serve.  If not serving immediately, turn each slice of bread over (this will prevent bread from sticking to the bottom of the pan).  You should definitely do as we did, and eat this with our Buttermilk Syrup that is insanely good.  

It's hard to believe, but that bread just soaks all of the mixture right up by morning.  The butter/sugar mixture creates the creme brulee effect on the bottom of the french toast, caramelizing it into sweet, rich goodness. 

Coconut Crusted French Toast

When Nicole visited last April, we thought it would be fun to make something different and delicious for breakfast on Easter morning.  At that time I was going through a coconut phase (still am, a little bit) and so this was an obvious choice for me.  It has taken me a long time to post it, but I have actually made it a couple more times because it is so delicious.  It definitely works best with a thicker bread, but is also yummy with regular bread.  We served ours with buttermilk syrup and fruit.  Mmmm. (P.S. this is Carolyn posting :)  

Coconut Crusted French Toast

adapted from: twopeasandtheirpod.com

3 eggs

3/4 c. coconut milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. salt

1 c. shredded sweetened coconut

6 slices french bread, cut into 1/2 inch slices (texas toast bread would work great, too) From the pictures, you can see that we used a thicker, regular bread, but I have also used french bread.

Heat a griddle or frying pan.  In a shallow dish, whisk together the eggs, coconut milk, vanilla and salt.  Pour the shredded coconut into another shallow dish.  Dip both sides of the bread in the egg mixture, then dip both sides into the shredded coconut (to coat the bread).  Place the bread onto your griddle or frying pan and then drizzle a little of the egg mixture over the top.  It will take a little more time to cook than usual.  When it is done, serve it with syrup or fruit, or both!

Cream Cheese Stuffed Lemon French Toast

 

I found this recipe on Our Best Bites a couple of weeks before Valentine's Day and thought it would be so fun to surprise Dustin with breakfast for the Day O' Love.  Little did I know (until 11:30 PM the night before) that he was planning on leaving for work by 6:25 AM that day.  Luckily, these were all prepared and waiting in the fridge for him to pop in the oven at 5:20 AM so that we could eat by 6:20 and he could be out the door on time.  How romantic of me to have him put his own surprise breakfast in the oven at that early hour!  Be aware that the reason that these were all prepared is because after you get them in the sauce, they have to sit for 8 hours in the fridge.  They are a little bit of a high maintenance meal, but so tasty and fun, especially for a special event. Here is a little tip: instead of buying expensive croissants, look for them in the Day Old section of your grocery store.  I got mine so much cheaper that way.  Plus they're supposed to be a little dried out.  Perfect!  They come partially dried out!

Cream Cheese Stuffed Lemon French Toast

adapted from: www.ourbestbites.com

4 large, stale croissants

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened (I accidentally used the lower fat kind *gasp* and it was still great)

1 1/4 c. powdered sugar, divided

2 lemons

2 eggs

1 1/2 c. milk

strawberries, sliced

sweetened whipped cream

Grease a 9X13 baking dish.  Slice the croissants in half lengthwise and set them aside.  In a medium bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, 3/4 c. of the powdered sugar, zest of one lemon and the strained juice of one lemon.  Mix it with your electric mixer until it is light and fluffy.  Spread the cream cheese mixture over one half of each croissant and replace the top.  You are going to put quite a bit of cream cheese on each croissant, using up all of your cream cheese.  Cut each croissant in half and place them in the baking dish.  They get pretty squished in there together, but that is okay.  In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, zest from the other lemon, juice from the other lemon and the rest of the powdered sugar (1/2 cup).  Pour it evenly over the croissants and cover it with tin foil.  Refrigerate it for 8-10 hours (that is why overnight is such a great idea!).  When you are ready to bake it, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Bake it for 30 minutes, then remove the tin foil and bake it for another 20-30 minutes.  The croissants will be golden and the liquid will be mostly absorbed.  After you take it out, let it stand for 5 or 10 minutes.  Serve it with sliced strawberries and sweetened whipped cream.

Panera Bread Custard French Toast

My husband surprised me the other day after a business trip with a yummy loaf of raisin bread from Panera Bread and a recipe to make custard french toast.  It was a fun twist to your typical milk, egg, and cinnamon french toast- this recipe used heavy cream to make it a little richer and creamier.  Their recipe obviously called for their raisin bread, which was a fun change, but you could just as well use any bread, which I can't wait to try!

Custard French Toast

Ingredients:
6-8 slices bread such as Texas Toast or raisin bread
4 Tbsp. melted butter
3/4 c. milk
1/2 c. heavy cream
3 large eggs
1 Tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
1. For the French toast custard, using a hand whisk combine the milk, heavy cream, eggs, honey, vanilla extract and the salt.  This custard can be made well in advance.  Give a brisk stir before making the toast.
2. Transfer the custard to a casserole or open shallow dish for dipping.
3. Dip one slice into the custard and turn over after about 15 seconds.  Transfer the slice to a plate while dipping another slice into the custard.
4. Heat a griddle or skillet and cook on each side until golden brown.  Serve with maple syrup.

Pumpkin French Toast

I found this little gem of a recipe in the Jessica Seinfield cook book, Deceptively Delicious, that my mom-in-law gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago.  I love the extra flavor that the pumpkin gives to the french toast.  I like to spice mine up with nutmeg and cinnamon and it tastes like a yummy slice of pumpkin pie.  You know, the kind of pie you eat for breakfast. With butter and maple syrup. Oh, just use your imagination!  My kids love it and any time I can hide some healthy veggies in any food, I'm happy to do it (as opposed to those nasty, unhealthy ones :).

Pumpkin French Toast

adapted by: Carolyn

5 eggs

1/2 c. pumpkin puree (actually just a litle less than this)

approximatly 1 c. milk

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

10 slices bread

Do I need to give instructions on this?  I'm going to assume you all know how to make french toast and save myself some time typing a long explanation.  Just mix it all together really well and dip the bread in it and cook it on a griddle.  Be aware that the pumpkin does clump a little bit after you have mixed it well, but it doesn't affect the flavor or really even the look of the french toast after it is cooked.  Also be aware that I totally guessed on all these measurements (except the pumpkin puree).  I just add ingredients until it looks like french toast batter should look (to me).  You do the same and I'm sure it will taste excellent!

Japanese French Toast

If you don't know about Panko, it's time to try it. I bought it a while ago for a recipe and have been working it into other meals to use it up. One of my favorite foods of all time is french toast. My husband can attest that I have probably ordered french toast off of a menu more than any other dish. As I was watching a commercial the other day on Hulu (this is what we live on with no satellite), an advertisement for Panko came on and it flashed a picture of french toast dipped in the yummy Japanese bread crumbs, and I knew I had to try it. It gives the french toast such a fun texture.

So, if the Japanese ever have french toast, I'm sure this is what it looks like.

my style Japanese French Toast:

(your regular french toast ingredients:)

eggs

milk

vanilla

cinnamon

bread (a thick Texas toast would be perfect for this)

panko

Directions:

Mix eggs, milk, vanilla and/or cinnamon in a shallow dish. Dip bread in egg mixture then dip in Panko to coat. Cook on griddle on medium heat, flipping to cook both sides. Serve with fresh fruit and syrup.

If you have fun ideas to make this even better let me know!