Stuffed French Toast & A Visit From The Fairy Hobmother!

Stuffed French Toast is one of those things that I've always wanted to try, but never actually got around to doing.  During my visits back home to Canada and while on holiday in the US, stuffed french toast was always one of those things on a menu that called my name, yet for some reason I just never ordered it.  Then before I knew it, my holiday would be over, and I'd have to fly back to the UK where sweet and yummy treats just don't make their way onto the breakfast table - it's just sausages, beans, mushrooms, fried eggs and grilled tomatoes here I'm afraid.  

Because I always seem to miss the opportunity to order stuffed french toast while on holiday, it's been on my "to bake" list for quite some time now.   The other thing that's been on my "to bake" list for even longer is cinnamon raisin bread.  I have a strange obsession with cinnamon raisin bread.  It's one of my favorite things to eat in the morning, all nice and toasted with a bit of melty butter on top!  

I'd been on the hunt for a good cinnamon raisin bread recipe for ages, but it seemed like every one I came across needed a bread maker.  And since I didn't have a bread maker, my search for the perfect recipe continued without much success.  So when I recently came across a blog post on Lay The Table saying that the Fairy Hobmother would grant one readers wish, I got super excited and commented straight away, wishing for a bread maker (or an ice cream maker - I couldn't decide!). 

If you're a regular reader of blogs in the UK, then you're probably pretty familiar with The Fairy Hobmother.  For those of you who aren't familiar with The Fairy Hobmother, she (aka: he) works for Appliances Online, and spends her days visiting blogs and granting wishes! Pretty cool huh?

So, about a month ago I was surprised, but thrilled to see an email in my inbox from the Fairy Hobmother letting me know that my wish had been granted!!  Since I had wished for an ice cream maker or a bread maker, I was told that I could have my choice as to which one I wanted.  It was a hard decision, but I ended up going with the bread maker after remembering all those times I had wanted to bake cinnamon raisin bread, but was never able to.

A few days later, my brand new shiny bread maker arrived, and I have to say I've really been enjoying it!  The great thing about this bread maker (Morphy Richards Daily Loaf) is that it makes loaves 1/2 the size of regular loaves, which is perfect if you live alone, or if you don't eat a lot of bread (like my husband and I).  So far I've made several types of bread, but of course cinnamon raisin had to be the first!  Because this bread maker makes a smaller loaf than normal, I decided it was probably best to use the recipes that were supplied with the machine.  I won't bother including the recipe since most people probably don't have this bread maker, but if I could say one thing about it, it would be that I would double the cinnamon and raisins as I didn't think there was enough of either in the bread, but never the less it was still good.  

So after baking my first loaf of cinnamon raisin bread I decided it would be the perfect excuse to bake stuffed french toast with.  I made my stuffed french toast by cutting extra thick slices of my cinnamon raisin bread, and then making an incision in the bottom of the slice where I could put the filling.  I think this is probably the best way of making stuffed french toast, but if you can't find unsliced loaves of bread, then you can use 2 slices of regular bread, but you'll just need to be careful not to overfill them with the filling, because it will leak out the sides.

Cinnamon Raisin Stuffed French Toast

Ingredients: 

4 thick slices of cinnamon raisin bread

6oz (170g) Cream Cheese
1 1/2 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

2 Eggs
2/3 Cup (160ml) Milk
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Pinch of salt 

Instructions:  

1.  Using a sharp knife, make a cut in the bottom of each slice of bread and carefully work your way up 3/4 of the way inside so a little pocket forms.  Set aside

2.  In a small bowl, whip or mix the cream cheese, sugar and cinnamon together until well combined.  Fill a piping bag fitted with a large metal tip with the cream cheese mixture (if you don't have a piping bag - don't worry, you can use a small spoon - a piping bag is just easier). Now take your pieces of bread and insert the metal tip into the opening you cut earlier.  Squeeze gently until you've filled the inside pocket of your bread with the cream cheese mixture.  If you don't have a piping bag, just use a small spoon to carefully spoon the cream cheese mixture into the pocket, making sure not to tear the bread.  Do not overfill.

3.  In a shallow container whisk together the eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and vanilla.  Heat a non stick frying pan over medium high heat, and coat with non stick cooking spray or a bit of butter or non stick cooking spray.  Pick up a piece of the prepared bread with a fork and lay it flat in the milk and egg mixture.  Let the bread soak up a bit of the liquid (approx 30 seconds) before flipping over to soak the other side (again for approx 30 seconds).  Place in pan, and cook until golden brown before flipping. Once both sides are cooked, place the French toast on a place and sprinkle with powdered sugar and top with syrup.

Tip:  Immediately after placing the soaked bread in the frying pan, I place a lid over the bread in order to help cook the bread thoroughly and prevent it from getting soggy.   

I'm really loving my new bread maker, and I still quite can't believe that the Fairy Hobmother chose to grant my wish!  And here's the best part of the whole thing - I can now pass my luck on to someone else, and it could be you!  All you have to do is leave a comment below telling the Fairy Hobmother what you wish for and it may just come true!!  If you need some inspiration for your wish, then pop on over to Appliances Online - they've got some great things there - especially the Pink Smeg Fridge! 

Good Luck!!!!

Bananas Make The Bestest Bread!

This banana bread is probably one of my favorite things that my mom made for us while growing up.  She'd always bake two loaves - one with nuts (bleh!) for her and my dad, and one with chocolate chips (yay!) for me and my brother.  I've mentioned before, that I have a horrible habit of buying fruit and not finishing it in time before it goes bad.  This especially goes for bananas.  I like my bananas pretty ripe - with no green what so ever, and preferably all yellow with a tiny hint of brown.  The problem is, is that if I buy 3-4 bananas and wait until they get to the right colour for me to eat, then inevitably there's going to be at least one of two that will get too brown by the time I get around to eating them.  Again, my solution is to freeze them.  Just peel the bananas and throw them in a ziplock bag and then into the freezer.  

I don't really mind having a freezer full of frozen bananas because it means that I can thaw them out to make a loaf or two of this fabulous banana bread.  It really is the best banana bread I've ever had, and I've tried a lot over the years.  Aside from cupcakes, it's probably the thing that disappears the fastest when I bring it into the office.  It's super moist, and loved by numerous people I know that actually hate bananas - including my husband.

One thing to note is that this recipe fills a standard North American loaf pan perfectly, but UK loaf pans are slightly smaller, so there's just a tad too much batter.  If you're using a standard UK pan, then you may need to have a small ramekin on hand to pour the extra batter in, so you'll end up with an extra mini loaf / muffin. And even though it's called banana bread, it's more of a load cake, and not bready at all.

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

2 Cups (250g) Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 Cup (115g) Butter

1 Cup (225g) Sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

1 Cup (250ml) Banana, mashed - about 3 frozen or very ripe bananas

1/3 Cup (80ml) Milk

1 tsp Lemon Juice or White Vinegar

1 Cup Chocolate Chips (or Nuts)

Instructions:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 350ºF (175ºC).  Grease a loaf pan with non stick cooking spray, or butter and line with parchment.  Sift flour, baking soda and salt together and set aside.

2.  In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.  

3.  Measure your milk in a measuring cup and add the lemon juice or vinegar to it.  Stir, and set aside for 5 minutes until it's curdled. 

4.  Alternating between the flour mixture and milk, combine each with the butter, egg and sugar mixture, making sure stir until just combined before adding in the next bit.  I usually dive each ingredient into thirds when alternating and mixing together.

5.  Once everything has been combined, stir in the bananas and chocolate chips (or nuts).  Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan, and bake for 45 - 60 minutes, or until a toothpick that's been inserted into the center of the load comes out clean.  Let the loaf cool completely in the pan before removing to cut.

* I've mentioned before that my oven is basically crap, and because it only has a top heating element, loaves like this take longer to cook and they also brown faster on top.  At around the 40 min mark, I usually cover the top of my pan with foil to prevent further browning, and leave it to bake for another 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes clean.

I'm not sure why, but my family has always eaten this banana bread with butter.  It's totally unnecessary, but it's really good.  This banana bread freezes very well, so it's a nice thing to bake and throw into the freezer so it's ready to bring out an hour or so before company drops by.  Cutting the banana bread while still slightly frozen makes it a bit easier to slice.  I took these pictures while the banana bread was still slightly frozen, so it appears a bit dry in the pictures, but it's NOT!  I promise!  Enjoy!

And now to announce the giveaway winner of the beautiful apron from Cooking Gorgeous!  A big congratulations goes to Nickie who won with her bonus entry for tweeting about the giveaway!  Nickie, I'll be in touch shortly with more details on how to claim your prize!