But then I’m no Newton It is my good friend, L I have to thank for this Albeit it in a roundabout way See, once upon a time three years ago I needed flaked almonds and she offered to get me some And she did – she got me a whole kilo Because the store was out of the smaller packs And thus began my almond experimenting
—–♥♥♥——
I love French toast, but it sometimes gets so boring (a fact my husband will attest to) that I practically have to force him to have it. Somehow we’ve managed the occasional variation – encrusted, only lightly dipped in bread as we both hate soggy FT, with jam, and on and on. One day, I sat in the kitchen, jar of lemon curd to one side, almonds to the other and light brown sugar within arm’s grasp. I put them all together and fell in love….with French toast all over again.
Why?
Well, I’m a girl of crusts and this recipe soothes my soul to a T: the edges crisp up nicely, and while the insides are soft there’s no sogginess about them. The curd/jam layer add sweetness and spice to an otherwise plain Jane recipe but the star is the almond + sugar combination. When the FTs are toasted under the grill till golden (watch this stage very carefully for it takes mere seconds to go wrong), the topping caramelises and crunches up – very much like ‘the’ creme brulée caramel layer. A recipe that you’ll find hard to mess up.
Because I am trying to rid myself of consuming copious amounts of sugar, I used maple flakes over the top. While the almonds toasted nicely, the amount of maple flakes I grated on were not enough to ‘test’ the brulée effect. Plus while it was lovely with the ancho strawberry preserve, it couldn’t beat the lemon curd version, which was one of the Editors picks over at food52 (a webcommunity for homecooks, with weekly recipe contests )
Overall, I love the components – bread, jam and nuts and the coming together.
Some ideas?
Use up leftover French toast this way
Serve it as dessert (instead of breakfast) with some thick. strained Greek or Turkish yogurt or creme fraiche
Use the almond-sugar brulée topping for other desserts
Brulée ancho strawberry French toast with almonds
Ingredients, serves 4
2 eggs (or egg whites)100ml milk
1/2 a teaspoon cinnamon or vanilla powder (to taste)
4-6 slices bread (I used gluten-free chestnut bread, which I made last week)
Tiny bit of softened butter, to fry
4 tablespoons ancho strawberry preserve
4 tablespoons flaked almonds
4 tablespoons light brown sugar/maple flakes To serve Creme fraiche
Fresh mint leaves
How to
Put the eggs (whites) into a wide, flat-bottomed bowl or plate and add the milk and cinnamon or vanilla powder. Whisk/mix till well combined.
Put a pan to heat up on low-medium. Dip bread into egg mixture on both sides: if you like you french toast a bit dry, this recipe is good for 6 slices of bread and for 4 slices if you like it soft.
By now, the pan should be hot, using a pastry brush, grease the pan with butter and place the bread in, let brown on both sides, about 2/3 minutes each on low-medium heat, allowing it to cook well.
When ready, remove from the pan and set aside. Turn on your grill/broiler to medium.
Spread ancho strawberry preserve on each piece of bread, top with some flaked almonds and finish off with a sprinkling of light brown sugar or maple flakes.
Set all the ‘finished’ pieces on a baking tray and place two rungs down from the top of the grill, about 6 inches from the heat source. Let grill till almond/sugar turn golden brown, anywhere from a couple of minutes to 3 or 4.
It is ready when the almonds are toasted, the ancho strawberry preserve glistens 🙂 and the sugar just caramelizes (in my case with the maple flakes, the almonds were the key to defining readiness). Remove and serve immediately.
Enjoy the rest of your week, we’re going away on a short break to Wales. Catch up when I’m back next week. LOL X X X[wpurp-searchable-recipe]Bruléed French Toast, with ancho strawberry preserve – – – [/wpurp-searchable-recipe]
This looks stunning and delicious!
What a wonderful flavourful idea. I cannot wait to try this. I am now making this preserve FOR SURE. I love ancho peppers… and the toasted almonds with the eggy toast… WOWSErS!!!
I apologize for being so far behind on my readings. We are still away. In Belgrade now… Paris was such a blast, and I have had some very enlightening moments in Serbia and in Bosnia… but am I ever ready to come home!!!
🙂
Valerie
Oooh, I love the look of those toasted, golden almonds! I’m a crust girl too so this is right up my street 🙂
Hello,
We bumped into your blog and we really liked it – great recipes YUM YUM.
We would like to add it to the Petitchef.com.
We would be delighted if you could add your blog to Petitchef so that our users can, as us,
enjoy your recipes.
Petitchef is a french based Cooking recipes Portal. Several hundred Blogs are already members
and benefit from their exposure on Petitchef.com.
To add your site to the Petitchef family you can use http://en.petitchef.com/?obj=front&action=site_ajout_form or just go to Petitchef.com and click on “Add your site”
Best regards,
Vincent
petitchef.com
absolutely stunning..and so delicious!
yumm, nice!!!. Hello saw your nigerian recipe on rebecca’s , always on the look for new cuisines. lovely site you have here, have a nice day!
oh wow looks amazing I want some with coffee!
almonds on french toast is an amazing winning combinatiob!
Penny – that chocolate idea sounds FAB. Will have to give it a go…I’m thinking salted caramel chocolate FTS!!!!!!
Thanks lacquer spoon
Laetitia – oh yes, I love FT on Sundays too!
Wizzy, oh there are dull moments – they usually end up in the bin!!!!!! 🙂
OysterCultyre – glad you like it
Thanks Amy
What an absolutely yummy looking treat and with that delicious strawberry ancho jam of yours – well that is just amazing!
You always make such exciting stuff. Never a dull moment in your kitchen. delicious
this is a delicious way of customing french toasts!! I particulary love eating them on Sundays… to have the time to eat more 😉
Ooh, that’s more beautiful than classic French toast! Thanks for sharing as always and enjoy your holiday in Wales 🙂
Love the look of this french toast! Sometimes I love to add chocolate… So YUM!
Everything here is my favorite!!! Love the combination. Thanks for sharing this. I really love your blogs. If you wont mind I’d love to guide Foodista readers to your post. Just add the foodista widget to the end of this post so it will appear in the Foodista pages and it’s all set, Thanks!
Perfect. It’s 6am and I was looking for inspiration for the boys’ breakfasts. Looks like I’ve found it – thanks Oz! Have a great holiday.. 🙂
Hope they enjoyed it
oh french toast how you haunt me, hubby ONLY enjoys plain french toast how boring…I would much prefer this version, kicked up to the max,maple flakes what a nice touch, enjoy your trip..
sweetlife
I know what you mean, I’ve had to gingerly convince my husband that FT max’d was worth his while
French toasts happen to be one of my favourite picks for a satisfying weekend breakfast.
So gald you shared another creative way to make them.
They look incredibly tasty ;o)
Ciao for now and flavourful wishes,
Claudia
Thanks Sarah, Angie & Claudia
A seriously rich and satisfying breakfast!
Gorgeous breakfast, I am most envious as I am about to dip into some muesli that looks like something from the bottom of a budgie’s cage. Enjoy your trip!
You have taken french toast to another level. I love your use of jam and almonds. Those ingredients are two of my favorite things, and imagining them on top of a crusty, eggy piece of bread is making my mouth water.
🙂
Stunning French toast. Enjoy Wales for me, I haven’t been there for about 15 years.
Thank you: Wales was superb – lovely landscapes….