Saturday Morning Challah French Toast

This is an exciting weekend. The weather is getting nicer and my sister is visiting! We went to the circus and made challah bread together. The natural progression is french toast for breakfast!

Last time we saw each other in NYC, I found this little cookbook at Strand that I love. It's got great pictures and instructions. And mouth-watering recipes, including Vanilla Challah French Toast.

This is by far the best french toast recipe. Challah bread makes all the difference. Stay tuned for a post on homemade challah bread.

Challah French Toast
Makes three servings
Adapted from Perfect Jewish

6 large slices of challah about 3/4 in. thick
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp butter

Whisk eggs milk, orange juice, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract together in small bowl. Transfer the mixture to a medium size dish or baking pan. Soak bread slices 2 minutes on each side in batches. Heat butter on frying pan over medium heat. Fry bread slices on each side for 2 minutes.

Dusted with powdered sugar and served with strawberry and maple syrup.

Weekend Overnight Baked French Toast

Weekend breakfast is the best thing in the world. Of course, it's the weekend, so right off the bat, every meal is better than a weekday meal. This weekend, however, we made some extra decadent french toast with the leftover Hawaiian bread. The recipe is almost too rich. We tried to scale it back. Be forewarned, too much delicious french toast in your mouth may result in an upset stomach.

Oh, and one more thing...even though most of the work is prepared the night before, you still have to bake it for 40 minutes. Don't be like us and wake up an hour before we had to leave the house to make it. 

Baked French Toast with Walnuts

Adapted from NPR

1/2 loaf of Hawaiian bread

4 large eggs

2 cups 1% milk

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

Topping:

1 cup walnuts

1/4 cup sugar

4 tbsp butter, cut in pieces

1/4 cup cream

Night before: cut and place bread pieces in baking dish. 

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla. Pour mixture into baking dish. Turn the bread slices to soak the other side. Cover and set in fridge overnight.

Prepare toppings: roughly chop walnuts and sugar in food processor. (We pulverized ours...oops...it's still tasty though!) Add butter and cream. Blend until just incorporated.

Next day: preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread topping over the bread. Bake for 40 minutes.