More French Toast, Please!

Well what can I say about french toast? A wonderful versatile dish, straight from the pan to your plate, baked, stuffed, caramelized, sweet or savory.  Whether you use white bread, french bread, croissants, or one of the many flavored variety breads on the shelves today. The options are endless and delicious.

Here at the Niebuhr house we enjoy it, not just for breakfast but for dinner as well, slathered in maple syrup and butter. Grace hasn't been said yet and my kids are anxiously waiting forks in hand, to dive into the golden stacks. This is one meal you won't hear me saying "Finish your dinner." The picture above is french toast I made with maple brown sugar bread...needless to say there were no leftovers.

The History
According to Food Timeline, french toast was created by medieval European cooks, but recipes for french toast can be traced back to Ancient Roman times. French toast as we know it is also know by many other names, for example: German toast, American toast, Spanish toast, Nun's toast, Cream toast, Amarilla, Poor Knights of Windsor, Roman bread, pain perdu...
For more information please visit Food Timeline.

The Recipe

It starts with your choice of bread, many people like to let the bread sit out over night to dry out a bit. This allows more of the custard to be soaked into the bread, and who doesn't like that? I find dry bread (or stale) tears less easily when taken from the custard mixture to the pan.

My basic recipe is 3 large eggs, 1 cup of milk, dash of salt, teaspoon of vanilla and on occasion a teaspoon of cinnamon, about 8 slices of bread.
But.......my most requested recipe is my Stuffed French Toast.




Stuffed French Toast

1 loaf of sliced French bread
6 large eggs
1 ½ cups half and half
1 ½ cups milk
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon clove

Filling:
2- 8 oz blocks of cream cheese at room temp.
3 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
½ cup sugar
½ cup of your favorite jam
1 cup fresh fruit, cut into one inch pieces (optional)....I like to use a combination of fresh fruit and jam

• Pre-heat oven to 350E
• Spray a 13 x 9 in. baking pan with cooking spray, set aside.
• Slice the french bread into 1/2 inch slices, set aside

For the Custard:
In a large bowl whisk the eggs, half & half, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove until well blended; set aside

For the Filling:
In a medium bowl stir together softened cream cheese, vanilla, eggs and sugar until smooth. If using BOTH jam and fruit, combine in a small bowl and mix.

In your 13 x 9 inch pan, arrange bread in a single layer. Spread half of the cream cheese mixture over the bread and top with half of the jam and/or fruit mixture. Add another layer of the cream cheese mixture, fruit, and remaining bread. You should end up with three layers of bread and two layers of filling.

Pour custard mixture evenly over bread, make sure you get the edges and corners. I like to push down all the edges to make sure it is covered in custard. Cover with Saran wrap and refrigerate over night or at least 4 hours.
Take out ½ hour before baking and allow to set out at room temp. Place pan on cookie sheet, to avoid spill overs.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until clearly set in the middle- it will puff up. Take out of the oven and let set for 5 minutes before cutting into.

Because of the filling, this recipe requires no syrup. But, if you like here is a recipe for a great topping you mix and add just before baking.

Topping

1 stick butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoon dark corn syrup
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans

Prepare this topping JUST before baking french toast.

In a small pan over med-low heat, melt butter. When butter is melted remove from heat and add vanilla, dark corn syrup, dark brown sugar and pecans; stir until combined. Spread topping evenly over french toast. Bake as directed.

I love serving this with roasted potatoes and a side of fresh fruit.


Please try this recipe and leave a comment. I would love to hear from you!

Enjoy : )

Making Parchment Circles

I love parchment paper, it is one of my favorite kitchen tools. I use it for baking as well as cooking, I line my cookies sheets and cake pans rectangle, square and round.

I learned this technique many many years ago, for cutting round parchment circles to be used in round cake pans or tart pans. I hope you find this useful.

Happy Baking!

     

My Checker Board Birthday Cake

So I celebrated my birthday on February 1st, and as usual I made my own birthday cake. This year I wanted to try my hand at a checker board cake. I chose chocolate and yellow cake with my creamy chocolate frosting. I have pictures to guide you through each step.

There are three ways, that I am aware of, to create a checker board cake. One is by baking two types of cake and cutting and layering to get the checker effect. The other is placing the two different cake batters (alternating) in the same cake pan and baking to create the same effect. And the other is purchasing a checker board pan set. It comes with a pan and a ring that is broken into several rings. You would put the batter, alternating colors, into the ring divider then remove the ring and bake.

I chose to do the first.

First pick the two cake types you like, be sure they are not to close in color.
Chocolate/white, red/white, or tint white cake pink/blue for a baby shower or yellow/light green for Easter or dark green/white for St Patricks day. Be creative and have fun!

I like to bake my cakes the day before and once they have cooled completely I wrap loosely in Saran wrap and allow it to sit out over night. This allows the cake to set up and is easier to work with.

                                                                                              
One of my favorite tools is a cake leveler. You can purchase this from a craft store in their cake decorating isle. It's quick and insure even layers. It has a bent bar with a wire strung between the ends. On each end are little notches allowing you to adjust the wire to the height you desire. Adjust the wire so that you cut away just enough of the top of the cake to make it level.
Using a sawing motion (back and forth) level the top of your cake using your leveler or a knife if you prefer


When using a leveler, place your hand on top of the cake as you get closer to the edge place you hand on the side of the cake opposite you. Allow the wire to press against your fingers as you work the leveler through the outer crust of  the cake. The wire will not cut you, but this will insure you don't break the edge of the cake.

 I usually save the tops of the cake for my husband and boys to snack on. This allows me to finish the cake with less interruptions : )

Next, adjust the cake leveler and *torte your cake into two even layers. Repeat this process with the chocolate cake. You will have four layers, two yellow and two chocolate.

(*torte: slicing cake into thinner layers)

Now for the rings.

I used a saucer and two metal cookie cutters, use whatever you have handy. You can see the difference in size from the picture below.

I started by placing my saucer centered on a single cake layer and I carefully, I cut around the saucer using a paring knife. I removed the sauce and using the larger cookie cutter I centered it inside the first cut and pressed down to cut the center out, then again with the smaller cutter I lined it up in the center of the second cut and cut the very center of the cake. Repeat with the chocolate cake. 

Now the fun part!

Carefully remove the cake rings from the center of each cake and replace them, alternating in color. Putting frosting in between to secure them together. I filled a pastry bag with frosting and piped a line inside of each ring then smoothed it out with my cake blade.

When finished your cake layer should look like this...............

Apply a layer of butter-cream over the completed cake layer then start the process again.

If your cake ring breaks as you are stacking them, don't worry just glue pieces together with butter-cream.

Be sure to alternate each layer:

If the bottom layer has a chocolate outer ring then the layer on top should have a yellow outer ring, the third will have a chocolate outer ring and the final layer on top should have a yellow outer ring. See the example below.

When you have filled and stacked the layers, cover cake with butter-cream and decorate as desired.

Slice, serve and wait for the ooh and ahhs. Then enjoy a slice yourself with a big glass of milk.

I hope you will try to make a checker board cake yourself, if anything people will be amazed at what you did and will ask "How did you do that?"