While we were still on vacation between Christmas and New Years, I was flipping through one of my cookbooks, hoping to come across something new and interesting to try out. Sara Moulton Cooks at Home has often caught my attention, but I just never managed to put any of the recipes on my list. But when I left the cookbook open to Ruthie’s Chocolate French Toast with Raspberry Sauce, Stefan immediately said we should make that.
Breakfast is an entirely different animal in Germany and most people just eat a variety of rolls with sausage, cheese and the occasional jam. I think the number of times that we have eaten breakfast like ourselves at home could be counted on one hand. It’s not that we don’t enjoy it, but we’d usually just rather make sandwiches, pancakes or French toast.
For some people, French toast seems like an enormous challenge. But in our house, we always seem to have a surplus of baguettes and other similar rolls that just don’t quite get eaten fast enough. Right before they hit the rock hard stage, we cut them into slices and put them into a plastic bag bound for the freezer. Then we just take out as many pieces as we need for breakfast or brunch. If you don’t find yourself with lots of leftover bread slices, you can also just buy yourself a baguette once a week for the purpose of freezing it, especially if it’s on sale. It doesn’t even matter if it’s yesterday’s baguette since you’re going to cut it up and freeze it anyway.
The following recipe is very similar to Sara Moultons, but I’ve added more sugar to the batter and changed the berry sauce that she used to also include syrup. The berry syrup can also be use on pancakes or waffles.
In the future I might be a bit more generous with the chocolate between the French toast pieces. Or maybe just having syrup mixed with the fruit puree instead of just powdered sugar would work better. But somehow this was jut not quite sweet enough. Delicious, yes. But it would just be a little better with the changes I mention below. So I’m pretty certain we will make this again. It would also be something lovely to surprise your chocolate-loving honey with in bed.
Find more delicious recipes during Mouthwatering Mondays on A Southern Fairytale.
Also included in Alli n Son’s Sweet Tooth Friday link-up.
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- 6 large eggs
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- slices Eight 1/2-inch thickbrioche or egg bread or 24-32if you are using baguettes
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate broken into large chunks and finely chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh berries to garnish
- 1 cup berry syrup see below
Ingredients
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- Break chocolate into large chunks and chop or shave with a knife.
- Beat eggs, milk, vanilla, sugar and salt in a large shallow dish.
- Work in 2 batches if possible, melting half the butter in a large nonstick skillet or on griddle, either heated to medium-high heat.
- Dip half the bread into the egg mixture until lightly soaked, about 30 seconds. Transfer to the skillet. cook for a couple minutes until lightly browned. Flip bread pieces as they brown and add a generous amount of chocolate to the cooked side before placing another slice of bread, browned side down on top. You’re making little French toast sandwiches filled with chocolate. Press lightly on top of the sandwich with your spatula to flatten a little and bond the pieces together.
- Brown both sides of the sandwich, turning down the heat to medium if needed. Once browned, put on a plate and cut in half if needed. Garnish with extra chocolate, fresh berries and berry syrup.
- Berry Syrup This really couldn’t be much easier and you’ll have plenty of berry sauce to use later on in your syrup. If you make a few different kinds, you won’t ever get bored. Put 1 pint fresh or frozen berries (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, etc) and 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar into a food processor. If you’d like to use this on its own without syrup, taste it and add more sugar if needed. Process until well blended and strain if you want a really fine sauce without any seeds. Now take about 1/2 – 1 cup syrup and add a few spoonfuls of the above sauce into the syrup. Heat it up slightly and stir to combine. If you’re feeling really lazy or pressed for time, add a few spoonfuls of your favorite jam or jelly to 1/2 cup syrup and warm it up in the microwave or on the stove until slightly warm. The jam will melt into the syrup, creating a delicious accent for your pancakes, waffles or French toast.
