The most wonderful (and delicious) time of the year is here, and who better than queen of the kitchen, Alice Zaslavsky, to treat us with a heavenly recipe for the festivities ahead! This chocolate-stuffed Cloud French Toast recipe from her new cookbook, The Joy Of Better Cooking, is the perfect Christmas morning breakfast dish that truly looks as good as it tastes. ‘Tis the season!
Ingredients
- 1 challnh loaf
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup (250 ml) milk
- 50 ml single (pure) cream
- 1/2 teaspoon salt flakes
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 100 g (3¼ oz) couverture dark chocolate, chopped
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons neutral - flavoured oil (1 like grape-seed oil)
To serve
- Icing sugar, for dusting
- Maple syrup, for drizzling
- Salt flakes, for sprinkling
- Zest of 1 orange (optional)
- Crushed toasted hazelnuts (optional, but excellent)
Method
1. Cut your challah loaf into slices about 2 cm thick.
2. In a bowl big enough for soaking your slices in, whisk the eggs, milk, cream, salt and vanilla together.
3. Using a sharp paring knife, slice a pocket horizontally into the middle of each piece of challah, deep enough to bury some chocolate, but not all the way to the bottom - like a chicken kiev. Carefully pop bits of chocolate inside each pocket.
4. Lay your choc-laden challah pockets in the eggy mixture for at least 10 minutes, carefully flipping them over halfway through.
5. Heat a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over medium-low heat, then splash in a tablespoon of oil. Working in batches, fry your challah slices for 3-4 minutes, until the underbelly turns a glorious shade of golden brown, then carefully flip them over with a spatula to cook the other side, Your French toasts are ready to remove from the pan when the chocolate has just started to ooze out of the pockets, indicating that the eggy bits inside have cooked through as well.
6. Fry the remaining challah pockets in the same way, adding more butter and oil to the pan each time.
7. Serve warm, dusted with icing sugar, drizzled with maple syrup, sprinkled with salt flakes and maybe some orange zest and toasted hazelnuts.
