Sweet Bread French Toast

Before seeing this recipe, my French toast consists of drenching bread in lots of beaten eggs. I would use at least one egg per piece of bread. It was okay....but not quite like the ones from the restaurant. I was browsing my The New Best Recipe cookbook from Cook's Illustrated and thought I would try this!

What surprised me is there's only one egg for four servings of French toast!!! Is it just me or is that crazy? I ended up using some sweet bread for the French toast and it was so delicious!! It was nice and fluffy, not too eggy, and the perfect crisp to soft ratio. Yum!! It's also so easy, it's really doable even for a weekday morning.

Sweet Bread French Toast
from The New Best Recipe

1 large egg
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 to 5 day old challah or sweet bread, 3/4 inch thick (see note)
unsalted butter for frying (1 tbsp per batch)

1. Heat a 10 or 12 inch skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium heat for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat the egg lightly in a shallow pan or pie plate; whisk in the melter butter, then the milk and vanilla, and finally the sugar, flour and salt, continuing to whisk until smooth.

2. Soak the bread without oversaturating, about 40 seconds per side for challah and 30 seconds per side for sandwich bread. pick up the bread an allow the excess batter to drip off; repeat with the remaining slices.

3. Swirl 1 tbsp butter in the hot skillet. transfer the prepared bread to the skillet in a single layer; cook until golden brown, about 1 minute 45 seconds on the first side and 1 minute on the second.. serve the French toast immediately. Continue adding 1 tbsp butter to the skillet for each new batch.

Note:

• *You can also use sandwich bread instead of challah.  You will need about 6 to 8 slices of day old sandwich bread.  You will want to cook it for 30 seconds on the first side instead of 40 seconds. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I made this pumpkin bread for a potluck we had at work the other day. I originally made some Old World Butter Horns from Cook's Country, but they came out so ugly (cannot post such ugly cookies, even though they are delicious!) that I had to scramble to make something else!!! This came together in no time so it was perfect!

This recipe comes from Extreme Dinner Makeover. This recipe is supposedly a copycat recipe for the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread at Great Harvest. I haven't had their pumpkin bread in a long time, so I can't say for sure if it's a good copycat recipe or not. I can tell you that it's a good recipe for Pumpkin Bread.

I made them into muffins instead of the original loaf because I was pressed for time. It made about 30 muffins!!! I also decreased the amount of sugar and thought the muffins didn't suffer from it. Here's the recipe. Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
adapted from Extreme Dinner Makeover

2 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups sugar (see note)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
16 oz cooked or canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 cup oil
4 eggs, beaten lightly
2/3 cup water
1 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips (see note)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare three 12 count muffin tins. (see note)

2. Mix flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a large bowl; set aside.

3. Mix pumpkin, oil, eggs, and 2/3 cup water together. Stir into dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips. Place batter in prepared pans.

4. Bake 18-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Note:

• *Original recipe calls for 3 cups of sugar. I only used 2 cups and I thought it was sweet enough.
• *I used Ghiradelli's semi-sweet chocolate chips, but they are a little larger than normal chocolate chips so it wasn't as evenly dispersed as I would have liked. I would suggest using smaller chocolate chips so you get a bit of chocolate in every bite!! =)
• *I made about 30 muffins, I baked the first batch with two 12 count muffin tins. The second batch I filled six of the muffin tins with the batter
  and filled the rest with water so that they would bake evenly.

Baked French Toast

We had some friends over for brunch the other day so I decided to make this Baked French Toast. Normally 30 minutes before we have a get together, I'm running around like a crazy woman in the kitchen. Which is why I hate it when people arrive early!! haha =) Not this time though, this baked french toast is so easy to make and I made it ahead of time and just popped it in the oven. I even had time to paint my toes. =P

This recipe comes from Bunny Pie. I can't find the link anymore. This tastes more like bread pudding without the creme anglaise than French toast. I love the crunchy topping with the soft custardy bread. It's great for an indulgent breakfast. Here's the recipe.

Baked French Toast
from Bunny Pie

5 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup half & half cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 loaf french bread (1 lb), cut diagonally in 1 inch slices (better when stale)

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cream and vanilla. Dip bread slices into egg mixture and place in light greased baking pan (see note). Refrigerate overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. In a small bowl, combine butter, sugar, maple syrup and nuts. spoon mixture over bread.

4. Bake in preheated oven until golden, about 40 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Notes:

• I used a 9x13 glass pan to prevent over browning.

Strawberry Scones

One day I woke up and just wanted to make something for breakfast. Since it was a work day, I knew I had to make something fast, so I decided to make these Strawberry Scones. The original recipe was called Strawberry Shortbread Cookies and they're from Baker Girl. To me, they are more like scones, so I renamed them. These were really good right out of the oven and for about half the day afterwards, but the next day they got heavy and gummy. I'm not sure why. If you have an occasion where you'll eat them up right away, then I would make these, otherwise, I would probably skip it.

Here's the recipe:

Strawberry Scones
from Baker Girl

12 ounces strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces (2 cups)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream
Coarse sugar, for sprinkling over the cookies

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a small bowl, stir together the strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of the sugar; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the lemon zest and remaining sugar. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingertips until moist and fragrant.

4. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the zest/sugar mixture and whisk to combine. Using a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture until you have coarse crumbs. Add the cream to the bowl and stir until the dough starts to come together, then gently fold in the strawberry mixture.

5. Use a small cookie scoop (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) to drop dough onto the prepared baking sheet, evenly spaced apart. To make them into scone size, drop 1/4 cup of dough onto baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown. Transfer the pans to wire racks and let the cookies cool. The cookies are best the day they're made, but can be kept in an airtight container for 1 day.