RECIPE: Baked French Toast | The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures - The Nibble Webzine Of Food AdventuresRECIPE: Baked French Toast | The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures
You can bake French toast instead of frying it. Photo courtesy Driscoll’s.
This recipe, from Driscoll’s, is called Baked French Toast Soufflé. Although the word does mean “to puff up” in French, and the slices of bread puff up very slightly, it’s not what Americans think of as soufflé.
To manage expectations, we removed the “soufflé.” What remains is a festive and delicious special-occasion breakfast or brunch. Consider it for Father’s Day.
The best part is that nearly all of the preparation can be done the day before. The only thing left to do in the morning is to put the pan in the oven and make the coffee.
Prep time is 15 minutes, cook time is 40 minutes. Driscoll’s uses blackberries; but you can use any berry or other fruit, such as banana.
RECIPE: BLACKBERRY GRAND MARNIER FRENCH TOAST
Ingredients For 6 to 8 Servings
For The French Toast
1 pound loaf brioche or challah bread
8 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur
1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons finely chopped orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoons salt
For The Blackberry Sauce
2 packages (6 ounces or 1-1/3 cups each) blackberries, divided
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Preparation
1. SLICE bread into 1-inch slices and arrange in a buttered 9 x 13-inch baking dish, overlapping the slices in 2 rows.
2. WHISK eggs, milk, heavy cream, Grand Marnier, sugar, orange zest, vanilla, nutmeg and salt until well blended. Pour mixture over bread slices soaking them evenly with the egg mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning…
3. TAKE the baking dish out of the refrigerator and preheat oven to 350°F. Place the pan in the middle of the oven and bake until golden and lightly puffed, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile…
It’s blackberry season: Enjoy! Photo by Pretoperola | DRM.
4. MAKE the blackberry sauce. Place 2 cups berries, sugar and lemon juice in a nonreactive pan over medium heat. Heat until the sugar dissolves and the berries give up some of their juice. Puree and press through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Return sauce to the pan and add remaining berries. Keep warm until serving.
5. SERVE: Put a square of the French toast on a plate, sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar and top with remaining blackberries and sauce.