Saturday, August 4, 2012

Apple Pie French Toast


Today is Travis' birthday (as I post this, it's Aug 4 in Japan), so for a special birthday breakfast, I decided to make his all time favorite: stuffed french toast. My beloved husband would probably eat stuffed french toast every day of the week if I decided to make it for him. Each time he sees it on a menu in a restaurant, it's automatically the order of the day. Strawberry filling seems to be the usual favorite, however I think I prefer this homemade version with apples. To me, the strawberry filling never tastes right- it seems fake somehow, because it probably isn't lovingly homemade with fresh berries.


The version I made today is more of a french toast sandwich that stuffed french toast, since the local Japanese bread I bought is large and thick, but a little too soft for creating a pocket within each slice. That would have been ideal, of course, so maybe using a sturdier bread like challah would have been a better option. I just used what I could find. I've used this bread in the past for regular french toast and it's insanely superb, so I thought it would do well. It did decently, but like I said, not sturdy enough for a pocket. Without those unitasker tools that press, seal and de-crust sandwiches, I wasn't sure how to seal the edges. The crust of this bread was too delicious to just cut off and throw away, so having more of a sandwich than stuffed bread was fine by me. 


Alternatively you could just make regular french toast and serve the filling on top and dust with powdered sugar instead of making the sandwiches. Either way it'll taste good, so do what makes your heart and taste buds happy!

It was absolutely delicious! Easier to make than I would have thought, and I loved how I was able to control how much sugar was in it and how it tasted like a breakfast apple pie. It's definitely a splurge breakfast, since I added cream cheese and apple butter to the insides of the bread too. It tastes fancy enough for Christmas morning, but tasty enough for the rest of the year!


Apple Pie French Toast

inspired by several recipes
serves 3

For Filling:
1 large apple, peeled, cored and diced
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons cream cheese

For Toast:
8-10 large slices day old bread
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon butter, melted
Apple butter  and cream cheese to spread

In a small saucepan, cook apples, lemon juice and water over medium heat for 5 minutes, until apples are tender. While they're cooking, combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl and stir out any lumps. Add into the sauce pan along with the cream cheese, turn off heat. Stir well to combine, sauce will thicken as it mixes.

Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on half the bread slices, do the same with apple butter on the other slices. Add a few tablespoons of filling mixture onto the cream cheese side of the bread, top with the apple butter slice, making a sandwich.

Combine eggs, milk, vanilla and butter in a shallow dish and whisk well. Dip the sandwiches in the egg mixture and cook on a lightly greased griddle over medium heat until golden brown on both sides.

Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

*If you're like me and bake your bacon in the oven, start the bacon at the same time you start the filling on the stovetop. Once the sandwiches are cooked, stow them in the oven to keep them warm, and the baking temperatures will prevent them from becoming soggy. I was able to finish the sandwiches for about 5 minutes in the oven while the bacon completed it's cooking time. Way to multitask your oven!

**If you have bread that is thick and sturdy enough , instead of making a sandwich, slit a pocket into each slice of bread and omit the cream cheese spread, but still add a little apple butter to the inside of the pocket. Add filling and gently spread evenly throughout pocket. Cook as directed above.

12 comments:

  1. Ooooh, this makes me miss fall :) Love your twist on the french toast!

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  2. Thanks, Anna! I definitely miss fall, too!

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  3. holy smokes this is the best thing i've seen all day!
    xo
    http://allykayler.blogspot.ca/

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  4. Thanks, Ally! I hope you get to make the french toast soon- It is ridiculously tasty!

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  5. This looks so delicious! I just stumbled upon your blog, and I think I'm obsessed :)

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    1. Thank you, Bianca! What a wonderful compliment. I truly hope you return for future posts!! Any recipes you'd like to see here, just lemme know and I'll do my best to get them up!

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  6. I'm so ready to try this, just have to get some apple butter

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    1. I actually made it today! haha I was so hungry I omitted the apple butter, but next time I'll def put it my my grocery list. I halved the recipe, used brown sugar, for some strange reason I had no regular sugar, and ciabatta bread, but it was great anyhow! Next time I'll def take the mixture off the stove quicker because the cornstarch hardens quickly, I'll add more cream cheese to the mixture instead of spreading it on the bread. I'm generally don't make things that involve doing a lot of dishes, i'm lazy, but I'm sure to make this more often, hopefully I'll figure out how to reduce the amount of dishes I use. Thanks for the recipe!

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    2. Thank you so much for stopping by! I'm glad you got a chance to try out the recipe. The thing I love about cooking is that you can do exactly what you did- play around with ingredients and ratios and see what works for you! If the cornstarch thickens too much I would try adding a little bit of apple juice or water to thin it out a bit. Apple butter helps, but honestly I don't think its an absolute necessity if you can't find it. A thin layer of applesauce would substitute well! Thank you for your feedback!! :)

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  7. Oh my word this looks delicious! PINNED.

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    1. Thanks, Aimee! Based on the name of your blog, you might also wanna check out the Ice Cream Monkey bread from a couple months back! Your blog looks fantastic, btw! :)

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  8. This looks SO delicious!!! Beautiful photos too :)

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