I just about fell off my chair when I came across this recipe at Delish.com. I’ve made French Toast with Bananas Foster many times, and thought that was about the most decadent treatment one could give French Toast. But I’ve discovered a new recipe that blows that one away…
Boston Cream French Toast: Is there anything
more decadent? Especially for breakfast?
Boston Cream French Toast (BCFT) is at least a minor ‘thing’, apparently. I Googled it after seeing a recipe at Delish.com and found several more. So this is another decadent delight I missed when it first came out of the gate. But I’m going to try to make up for lost time today. And I’m going to share another recipe for Apple Pie French Toast, that Delish has received 5 stars for.
What it is
BCFT, in its most enticing form consists of two slices of French Toast (preferably thick-cut Brioche or Pullman loaf) dipped in Eggs and fried quickly in the usual way. But the slices are stacked with a Vanilla Cream filling in between and topped with a rich Chocolate Ganache. Looks great and tastes fabulous. And prep time is under 10 minutes once you have gathered all the ingredients to hand.
One thing I discovered while Googling is, most contemporary recipes for BCFT call for many versions of the Cream Filing. Classically, you’re supposed to whip up a batch of French Pastry Cream with Eggs, Vanilla and just a soupçon of Almond Extract. Various recipes I found called for simply making up a box of Vanilla Pudding Mix to making your own simple Vanilla Pudding from scratch. Whatever floats yer boat. Your guests – unless they’re professional cooks – won’t know the difference. And you can mask your use of pudding by adding that half-teaspoon of Almond Extract.
Apple Pie Stuffed French Toast: You can actually stuff
French Toast with any ‘Pie Filling’ you like!
Apple Pie Stuffed French Toast
This preparation is very similar to BCFT, except that it is usually made with very thick slices of French Toast, as described above, with a lateral pocket cut into them for the stuffing. This is, in fact, the classic way to prepare Stuffed French Toast. Prepping the filling, in this case, is as simple as opening a can or jar of supermarket Apple Pie Filling. But the Delish recipe shows you how easy it is to make your own in just a couple of minutes.
Pecan Baked French Toast: Add a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream to make it a Dessert!
Pecan Baked French Toast
What the heck. Here’s an intriguing one from bakerbynature.com. This dish demonstrates the Baked French Toast technique. Which is not the same as a ‘French Toast Casserole! The chef in this case uses the word ‘casserole’, but, really, it’s not. (If you want to do a casserole, try the Delish.com recipe. And use at least 6 Eggs, rather than the 4 Delish specifies, for best results.)
Use a good, sturdy French or Italian loaf (full-sized; not a Baguette) and cut it fairly thick. You’re supposed to arrange the Bread slices in a casserole dish and pour the Egg mixture over them, letting the Bread soak while you make the Candied Pecan topping. Then – and this is very important – prepare a second casserole dish to bake the Toast in. Spread the Pecan mixture evenly over the bottom of the second dish and lay the soaked bread slices on top of it, making sure not to overlap them. Yes! It’s an ‘upside down cake’ sort of preparation! Cooking time will depend on how thick the slices are.
You can, of course, use this recipe to make ‘any kind of Nut’ Baked French Toast. It’s also close to my Bananas Foster presentation.
French Toast madness
Of course, these are just some of my favourites. There are more ‘fancy’ French Toast recipes online than you can shake a spatula at. Go forth and explore! And have French Toast more often…
~ Maggie J.