Category: recipes

Overnight French Toast

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

I was in the mood for some french toast, and through searching for a good french toast recipe, I came across this “Best Ever French Toast Recipe” apparently from The Lake House Bed and Breakfast in Granbury, Texas:

Ingredients:

  • 1 loaf King’s Hawaiian Bread, sliced 3/4 inch thick
  • 4 eggs, well beaten
  • 1-1/2 to 2 cups milk
  • 2 Tablespoons orange juice
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar or sugar substitute
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place bread slices in large baking pan (use 2 if necessary). Mix beaten eggs and other ingredients well; pour slowly over bread slices and refrigerate overnight. Heat griddle coated with butter spray or canola oil at “medium”. Cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side until browned. Serve with fresh fruit and syrup or dust with powdered sugar.

This recipe requires preparation the night before, of course, so I had to estimate how hungry I’d be in the morning. Since it was just me, I obviously didn't want to use an entire loaf (as called for in the original recipe). I estimated maybe three-to-four slices worth, but I settled on making four slices as that left a burned-buffer that would ensure at least three edible slices ;).

Not knowing a thing about “Hawaiian Bread”, I had to make an educated guess as to how much I needed to reduce the ingredient quantities. Figuring that a good-sized omelette had three eggs, I decided on a three-egg basis and reduced the other ingredients proportionally.

Inspired by a thread on MetaFilter, I also added 1/2 tsp nutmeg to the recipe (I would have linked to the thread, but I’m getting “Connection Refused” errors from MetaFilter at the moment).

I dutifully chilled the recipe overnight, and prepared to cook the french toast in the morning. I don’t have a griddle, but I figured that a pan would be fine. I preheated the stove to “medium” and set the first slice to cook. Three minutes later (just as the recipe says), I turned it over: complete blackness. Apparently, stoves and griddles don't have compatible heat-settings ;).

For the next slice, I tried two mintues, but even that was a touch on the charred-side. I ended up going about 1 1/2 minutes per side for the rest of the batch. The toasts ended up crispy on the outside and a bit mushy on the side — as the only french toast I’ve had has been made by me, is that how it’s supposed to turn out? Don’t get me wrong, they were still tasty (especially with some sprinkled Splenda and some sugar-free raspberry jam), but I want to make sure that I’m getting the recipe right (especially if I should ever end up cooking it for someone else).

Apple Pumpkin Pie – Recipe

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

From the Back of the Box mailling list, I found this recipe for Apple Pumpkin Pie. I’m trying to be adventurous in foods and, though I didn’t used to like pumpkin pie as a kid, I think it's something that I’d like to give another chance.

I seem to be at the point where my taste buds are dying and some foods are tasting differently to me. So, I think I’ll be daring and have a slice of pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving. At any rate, this Apple Pumpkin Pie recipe could be quite tasty, Thanksgiving or otherwise:

Prep: 15 min, Cook: 60 min

Filling:

  • ¾ cup (148 grams) sugar
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1 egg
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 2 cups Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped (about two to three apples)
  • 1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust

Crumb Topping:

  • ⅓ cup (47 grams) all-purpose flour
  • ⅓ cup (66 grams) brown sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened

Directions:

  1. Combine the sugar, flour, and salt in a large bowl.
  2. With an electric mixer, beat in the pumpkin, egg, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice until smooth.
  3. Stir in the apples gently with a spatula.
  4. Pour the mixture into the pie crust. Cover the crust’s edges with foil.
  5. Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes.
  6. While the pie is baking, prepare the crumb topping:
    • Combine the flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl.
    • Mix in the softened butter with a fork.
  7. Take the pie out after 45 minutes and add the crumb topping:
    • Sprinkle the crumb topping over the pie.
    • Bake for an additional 15 minutes.
  8. Serve warm.

Raspberry-Walnut Shortbread Bars

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

I subscribe to the newsletter for BackOfTheBox.com. As the name implies, the site features recipes found on the back of boxes and cartons.

And, today’s recipe was for raspberry-walnut shortbread bars. The original “box” was apparently Diamond Walnuts, as they’re listed by name as one of the ingredients.

I like both raspberry and shortbread, so that combination sounded pretty tasty from the start. And, walnuts would only tend to improve upon that ;). I was optimistic about my chances of ever being able to complete the recipe as its ingredients were fairly ordinary (walnuts, flour, sugar, butter, jam…).

However, looking more closely, it looks like it could take a while to bake (bake walnuts 8-10 minutes … bake crust for 25 mintutes … let cool for 5 minutes … bake completed-bars for 25 minutes).

So maybe it’s a bit much effort for an everyday cooking jaunt. But, they could work well for a holiday or other special occasion.