Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!

Bacon, Cheddar, Green Onion Scones

I found this recipe one night when I was searching the blogs. I was immediate struck with how delicious these would have to be - cheese, green onions,a nd bacon all wrapped up in a still-warm from theoven scone. AHHHHHH I finally got around to making them last week and I was not disappointed.

These are nice and light, but still filling without feeling too heavy. You don't get the sense that you're having dessert for breakfast the way you do with some scones and quick breads. The base for the scone is slightly different than that of previous scones I'd made, but still very light and buttery.

Enjoy!

Bacon, Cheddar, Green Onion Scones

adapted from The Pastry Queen

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup (1 stick)chilled, unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 10 slices of bacon, diced and cooked; then drained of fat
• 3/4- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 400. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper into the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Combine on low speed. Gradually add the butter cubes as the mixer is still running, until the mixture is crumbly and studded with butter-flour bits (about the size of small peas). Add the grated cheese and mix until just blended.

Add the bacon, green onions, and 3/4 cup of the butter milk. Mix by hand until all the ingredients are incorporated. If the dough will not hold together and is too dry, add buttermilk 1 Tablespoon at a time, stirring lightly with each addition. Do this until the dough is pliable and can be formed into a ball. Do not overwork the dough, or the scones will not be light and tender.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Pat into a ball, and roll into an 8-inch circle that is about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges for more substantial scones, or 10 wedges for smaller scones.

Combine the egg and water in a small bowl.

Place scones on an un greased baking sheet, and brush each scone with the egg wash. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown and no longer sticky in the middle.

Meyer Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Wild Blueberries

I posted awhile ago about how I went 'recession crazy' when I spied an incredible price on ricotta cheese when I was in the States. I didn't need it at all but the price was soooo good that I couldn't pass it up. Of course, why buy one container of a product you don't need in any way, shape, or form when you can buy 6?

Then I was stuck with a dilemma - the expiry date was coming close and I had no plans to use all of the stuff! This would become a crisis because I risked being soundly and thoroughly mocked by Paul if I had to toss any of it out because it went bad.

Honestly, there should be some sort of 12 step program for this 'recession craziness'.

To make matters worse, when I was shopping a few weeks ago I spied bags of Meyer lemons - a fruit we rarely see (if at all) here in Canada. Immediately I remembered the bag of Meyer lemons that Judy brought me (self-picked from her own tree) a few years ago when we were in California. I brought them home on the plane (I think that was illegal - eek) and made a few things with them - YUM I was officialy hooked on Meyer lemons!

When I saw them in the market a bag just 'jumped' into the cart.

So there I was, a bag of Meyer lemons needing to be used and a carton remaining of ricotta about to turn into a science experiment. What to do?

I visited my fine friend GOOGLE and found this recipe for pancakes made using ricotta cheese and the Meyer lemons. I modified the recipe by adding some dried wild blueberries I had purchased at Trader Joes (why oh why won't Trader Joes come to Canada?). When I served these to Paul you could hear the purring for miles. In fact, there were some leftovers and he insisted on having them for breakfast on Monday. This is high praise from one who will NEVER eat the same thing two days in a row (and folks think I have neuroses!)

The pancakes are more dense than the regular kind but the flavour - oh wow!

Meyer Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Wild Blueberries
About 12 small pancakes

3 eggs, separated
3 tablespoons sugar
1 pinch kosher salt
Finely grated zest of 1 large Meyer lemon
1 cup homemade ricotta (store-bought works fine)
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup dried wild blueberries
Jam and/or maple syrup, for serving

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, salt, lemon zest, ricotta, blueberries, and flour.

 

In another bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed or a whisk, beat the egg whites to medium-stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the ricotta mixture.

 

Heat  an electric griddle, 2 non-stick or well-seasoned frying pans over medium heat. Add a bit of butter enough to coat the cooking surface.

 

Dollop heaping tablespoonfuls of the pancake batter into the pans, leaving a bit of space in between each pancake. You should be able to fit 3 or 4 pancakes into each pan, depending upon how large your pan is. NOTE - I had to spread the batter out a bit with a teaspoon as it is quite thick.

 

Cook for about 1 minute, until the bottom is golden brown. Carefully flip the pancake to brown the other side, and cook until the pancake is cooked throughout, another minute or so.

 

Serve at once on warm plates with jam or maple syrup.

Irish Soda Bread

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I realized, somewhat to my horror, that I had left an important thing out of the post about our St. Patrick's Day dinner on Sunday. It was when Kayte asked about Irish Soda Bread that I went 'oops'. To make matters worse, it was the one thing that mom had contributed to the dinner - rising from her sick bed where she has languished like Camile for the last two weeks, to toss together the ingredients to make the bread. Happily she never reads my blog so she will never know - shhhhhh!

Anyway.

On this side of the pond, "Irish soda bread" generally means a somewhat sweet white bread made with eggs and butter and studded with raisins and caraway seeds — the "soda" in the name comes from the baking soda (or "bread soda" in Ireland) used to leaven it instead of yeast and kneading. But some people, like the founders of the U.S.-based Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread, insist that there's nothing Irish about this bread — that it's an American invention or at least a corruption of the Irish original.

What is the truth?

Bread soda was introduced in Ireland during the early 1800s and it suddenly meant that people who didn't have an oven — and virtually nobody had an oven back then — could make soda bread. They cooked the bread in what's called a bastible — a big cast-iron pot with a lid on it that would have been put right onto the coals or onto the turf fire. The great thing about soda is that it was not so perishable and it would have been relatively inexpensive. And they would have had buttermilk from the cows [old-fashioned buttermilk is a by-product of making butter] and they would have been growing wheat, so they would have had flour.

There you have it - Irish Soda is sort of Irish. Like so many things in life - don't question, just go with if it seems to work.

I've had lots of soda bread over the years and would generally describe it as nasty. I don't know what folks were using for a recipe but it was more baking soda than anything else - the result was a dense lump of cooked dough that was unappealing and should really have been used to fill the potholes that appear everywhere at this time of year.

Then we had a discovery on the Bon Appetit website back in 2006. This recipe makes a delicious loaf of soda bread that is truly amazing. It was enough to convert me from a despiser of the stuff to one who is enamoured of it. Really, it was a miraculous event (although not along the lines of St. Patrick ridding the Emerald Isle of snakes).

Whip up a loaf of this for friends and family today and you'll be a modern day St. Patrick's Day hero!

Enjoy.

Irish Soda Bread

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 cups all purpose flour
5 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons butter, chilled, cut into cubes
1 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray 8-inch-diameter cake pan with nonstick spray. Whisk flour, 4 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in large bowl to blend. Add butter. Using fingertips, rub in until coarse meal forms. Make well in center of flour mixture. Add buttermilk. Gradually stir dry ingredients into milk to blend. Mix in raisins.

Using floured hands, shape dough into ball. Transfer to prepared pan and flatten slightly (dough will not come to edges of pan). Sprinkle dough with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.

Bake bread until brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool bread in pan 10 minutes. Transfer to rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Rosemary and Roasted Garlic Cloverleaf Rolls

Have you voted in the photo contest?

Four of our trip pictures have been entered in a photo contest run by the good folks at easycar.com. Oh happy day - all four photos are currently in the top 10 out of 344 photos. You can vote for each by clicking here, (remember 10 is a good vote! *smile*)  here, here, and here.

Yes, you CAN vote for all four photos.

You can only vote once from any given IP address - this means you can vote once for EACH pic from bothat ome and at work! If you have two computers networked at home, you can only vote on one of them, however. If you have a Blackberry though, that is a third vote. If you send these links to friends, relatives, or people who bug you with unwanted e-mails - just think of the of votes! It boggles the mind.

Heck, do what I do - vote at every hotel, conference centre, and friend's house in which you find a PC attached to the internet. Don't be shy at all. :-)

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I first saw these delicious rolls mentioned on the Culinary in the Country blog. When Joe described delicious rolls that were studded with flecks of fresh rosemary and oozing with roasted garlic I started to drool. When I mentioned them to Paul his face lit up like a Christmas tree and I knew what was required.

I was a bit nervous as I have never quite gotten over my early yeast disasters whenI started exploring my way about the kitchen. Nervous for nothing it turned out - these rolls are easy to make. Yes, they do take some time (bread always does!) but the deep flavour of these tasty hunks of bread make it all worth while.

I followed the recipe as printed but as you can see I sprinkled some freshly grated Parmesan on the dough prior to placing them in the oven.

Don't be a whimp like me - conquer the yeast!

Enjoy.

Rosemary and Roasted Garlic Cloverleaf Rolls

1 whole garlic head
2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast
1 cup warm milk
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350

Gently remove the white papery skin from garlic head (do not peel or separate the cloves). Wrap head in foil. Bake at 350° for 1 hour; cool slightly. Separate cloves; squeeze to extract garlic pulp. Discard skins.

Dissolve yeast in milk in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add garlic pulp. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add 1 cup flour, 2 tablespoons butter, sugar, salt, egg, and rosemary; beat with a mixer at medium speed until combined. Add 2 cups flour, and beat until smooth. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead for about 8 minutes until smooth and elastic; add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands.

Place the dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Punch dough down. Divide dough into 12 equal portions. Divide each portion into 3 pieces, and shape each piece into a ball. Coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray; place 3 dough balls in each muffin cup. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 400

Uncover dough, and brush tops with 1 tablespoon melted butter. Bake at 400 for 12 minutes or until browned.

Sunday Slow Baking # 16 - Taralli with Red Pepper and Oregano

Another Sunday and another great recipe by Gina De Palma. This is the latest stage in the Sunday Slow Bakers' exploration of Dolce Italiano by Gina De Palma. Krista came up with the notion that it might be interesting to get a group of folks together to bake and blog each week. This week's recipe is a savoury one for a change and was selected by Cindy, sadly she wasn't thrilled with the results she achieved.

Today's recipe is a favourite of Gina's - in fact she wrote about it on the Babbo website. Taralli are snack food, a type of bread common throughout the southern half of the Italian peninsula: they're doughnut shaped, about 3 inches across, and are moderately crunchy; they can be either somewhat sweet or slightly salty, and some people sprinkle their surfaces with anise seed, pepper, or whatever. Gina suggests that they are like a pretzel but the ones I have tried are more bagel-like.

I really enjoyed these - they are a little more effort than some recipes to make but the result is well worth it. They will be perfect tonight with a bottle of wine! Next time I make them I will try different herb/cheese combinations.

Taralli with Red Pepper and Oregano
Taralli al Peperoncino e Herbe  

4 1/2 cups “00” Flour 
2 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh oregano 
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes 
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons dry white wine 
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place the flour, 1 tablespoon salt, sugar, oregano and red pepper flakes in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the wine and oil and mix on medium speed with the paddle attachment to form a wet dough. Beat fro three minutes. Transfer the dough to a plastic container that has been oiled and well dusted with flour. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for at least 2 hours. You can also refrigerate the dough overnight in an airtight container; bring it to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe. 

Preheat the oven to 375 and position the rack in the centre.

In a stock pot or dutch oven bring approximately 4 quarts of water to a boil. Season the water with the remaining 1 T. salt. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover the pot to prevent the water from evaporating.

Prepare two baking sheets by lightly brudhing them with olive oil.

Have ready some paper towels to drain the tarilli on as they come out of the water.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead lightly. Divide the dough into four pieces. Work with one piece at a time, keeping the rest in the bowl until ready to use. Roll portions of the dough into long ropes, about ¾ inch in diameter and 18 inches long. Cut the rope into about 4 or 5 pieces and shape them into rings, making a small knot at the top. As you finish each ring, place it on a cookie sheet dusted with flour, repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

Drop the rings in to the simmering water, about 4-5 at a time; the water should remain at a simmer. The taralli will sink and then float when they are done. Increase the heat as necassary to keep the water at a simmer. Gently scoop them out of the water with a slotted spoon or a Chinese skimmer, allowing them to drain for a moment in the spoon, place on paper towels for a few moments to remove any excess water. Place them on a cookie sheet greased with a bit of olive oil. You do not have to space the taralli too far apart, as they will not grow while they bake.

Bake the taralli should bake for about 25 minutes or so, or until they are a nice even, golden brown. When they are evenly golden brown, remove them from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool completely before storing them in an airtight container. They will last only as long as you can keep from eating them!

Be sure and check in on the other sunday slow bakers to see how their taralli turned out:

Baked Alaska
Destination Anywhere
Happy Trails for Us: My Reluctant Blog
Keep your Feet in the Street
In and Out of the Garden
My Place in the Sun
Palmabella's Passions
Postcards From the Trail
Whistlestop Cafe Cooking

Pizza on the Grill

One of my favourite things to make on the grill is pizza - it produces a crisp crust reminiscent of the thin crust pizzas made in wood burning ovens.

You can use a ball of store bought dough or you can make your own. My current 'favourite' pizza dough is a recipe by Emily Richards. It makes a soft dough that is very pliable and easy to spread - always a plus in my book.

Homemade Pizza Dough

pinch sugar
2/3 cup warm water
1 envelope active dry yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in the water. Sprinkle with yeast and let stand for about 10 minutes or until frothy.

Whisk in oil and salt. Stir in the flour.

Scrape out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough 'comes together'.

Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.

Knead again on the floured surface until a smooth dough forms.

Place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for an hour or until doubled in bulk.

Tonight I decided to make four pizzas. I heated the grill to high. While it was heating I cut the dough into four pieces. I spread each piece of dough into a rough circular shape (raking care not to tear it or spread it too thinly) on parchment paper that had been lightly greased with olive oil.  I lightly greased the top of the dough with olive oil as well.

When the grill was ready to go I just picked up the parchment paper and turned the dough onto the grill with the parchment paper on top. I then peeled the parchment paper off. I was able to do two pizzas at a time. I covered the BBQ and cooked the dough until it was lightly browned (about 5 minutes).

When the one side done I took the half cooked shell off of the grill and put the non-browned side down on a baking sheet.

I placed the uncooked side down on baking sheets and put the toppings on the cooked side.

Tonight we made four types. The first received sun-dried tomato pesto, sliced pepperoni, mushrooms and an Italian grated cheese blend. The second sun-dried tomato pesto, prosciutto, thinly sliced fresh pineapple, and Italian grated cheese blend. The third BBQ sauce, cooked chicken breast, sliced green onions, bacon, and cheddar cheese. The final one was Paul's creation. It was dressed with a garlic olive oil, cooked chicken breast, roasted pepper, black olives, halved grape tomatoes, and feta cheese.

Back out to the grill they went. This time I used a large metal BBQ flipper to lift the pizzas on to the grill. After closing the lid I cooked them for about 7 minutes, checking periodically to make sure that they were not burning.

The finished product:

YUM!

Blackberry Streusel Muffins

When we were at the market last week we saw some blackberries (the fruit, not the electronic device) being offered for 5 packages for $ 5. Even though I wasn't sure what I would do with them I scooped up 5 containers - this was a great price!

Today was a department meeting at work so I thought I'd try and combine baking treats for my colleagues with blackberries. I came up with this recipe for Blackberry Streusel Muffins. Apparently they were good because they all got eaten. They were easy to make and looked impressive coming out of the oven.

I used sliced hazelnuts in the streusel.

Blackberry Streusel Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups frozen blackberries

Streusel topping (recipe below)

Grease 12 muffin cups, or line with paper cups.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. In a seperate bowl beat the egg, then add milk, oil, lemon juice and vanilla, mixing well. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients' bowl. Stir until just moistened - lumpy batter is good. Stir in blackberries.

Spoon batter into muffin cups until 2/3 full. Sprinkle streusel topping on each muffin. Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Streusel topping:
3 Tbsp flour + 3 Tbsp brown sugar + 1/2 tsp cinnamon + 2 Tbsp butter + 2 Tbsp chopped nuts

Mix until crumbly.

Babbo Breadsticks (Grissini)

Krista came up with an idea that it would be fun to get a group of folks together to bake and blog each week. A group of us on Slow Travel are going to do just that. Today is the third entry in our baking challenge as we continue to work our way through Dolce Italiano. This week it was Colleen's turn to select the recipe and she selected these bread sticks which are on pp 270 and 271..

It was nice to try a savoury recipe from the book. Gina makes these breadsticks daily and they are served at the bar at Babbo in NY City. They are easy to make - even for someone who is yeast phobic like myself. One taste of these breadsticks (I dare you to only try one!) and you'll want to hop a plane to NY to check out the other treats at Babbo!

Babbo Breadsticks (Grissini)

1/3 cup warm water

1 pkg yeast

pinch of sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup '00' flour (you could use 3 cups all purpose if you are unable to find 00 flour)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup cold water

2 Tbs EVOO

1/2 cup grated parmigiana cheese

1 Tbs unsalted butter

Kosher salt

Pour the 1/3 cup water in a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top. Stir it in the water with a pinch of sugar. Allow to sit until frothy and foaming - about 8 minutes.

In bowl of a stand mixer combine flours, salt and pepper. Make a well in the centre of the mixture. Pour the yeast into the well followed by the water. Using the dough hook attachment, knead the ingredients until mixed for about 2 minutes. Stop the motor and add the 2 tbsp olive oil, butter, and parmigiana cheese. Continue mixing with the cough hook for 2 - 3 minutes until smooth.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured board. Knead by hand until it is velvety smooth - about one minute. Place the dough in a greased mixing bowl. Cover with a greased piece of saran and set in a warm, draft free spot until double in volume (about 2 hours).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Arrange two racks in the middle and lower part of the oven. Prepare three baking sheets by either oiling them and covering them with parchment or by covering them with a silpat sheet (I used silpat).

Turn the dough out onto the floured board. Cut into quarters. Leave one quarter on the board and return the rest to the bowl. Cover to ensure that the remaining dough does not dry out. Cut the dough into 1 inch pieces. Roll out each 1 inch sections of dough into a 14-15 inch breadsticks - about 1/8 inch thick. Brush lightly with olive oil - sprinkle with additional cheese.

Bake 12-14 minutes until golden brown (rotate half way through the baking to ensure even browning).

Makes about 30 breadsticks

Lemon-glazed Zucchini Quick Bread

This is my entry for this week's Weekend Herb Blogging round up. This blogging event was started by Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen. The round up is hosted this week by Margot from Coffee and Vanilla - be sure to pop by to see what other bloggers have come up with.

A few weeks ago I was searching for something to bake for the department meeting. I was at a loss until I saw a picture for this quick bread. I was hesitant - imagine the thought of zucchini in a bread? EWWWW The pic looked so bloody good though.

I decided to let my colleagues by the guinea pig!

I was shocked at their response. They chowed through it so quickly that there was NONE for me. How evil of them.

This weekend I decided to whip it up again for Paul and I. It didn't take long before I realized what the fuss was about.

Lemon-glazed Zucchini Quick Bread

(from the All-New Complete Cooking Light Cookboook)

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (can sub. 1 cup whole wheat flour)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup finely shredded zucchini
1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/4 cup canola oil
2 Tbls grated lemon rind
1 large egg
cooking spray
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
2 Tbls fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, level with knife. Combine flour and next 6 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine zucchini, milk, oil, rind, and egg in a bowl; add the flour mixture. Stir just until moist.

3. Spoon batter into an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray (or muffin tins, half baking time). Bake at 350 for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

4. Combine powdered sugar and lemon juice; stir with a whisk. Drizzle over loaf.

Zucchini is one of the most common varieties of summer squash. The delicate flavor, soft shell and creamy white flesh of summer squash is a perfect addition to any summer meal. Once only available in the summer, they are now available throughout the year; however, they are in season between May and July when they are at their best and most readily available.

Summer squash, members of the Cucurbitaceae family and relatives of both the melon and the cucumber, come in many different varieties. While each type varies in shape, color, size and flavor, they all share some common characteristics. The entire vegetable, including its flesh, seeds and skin, is edible. In addition, some varieties of the squash plant produce edible flowers. Unlike winter squash, summer squash are more fragile and cannot be stored for long periods of time.

When purchasing summer squash, look for ones that are heavy for their size and have shiny, unblemished rinds. Additionally, the rinds should not be very hard since this indicates that the squash are overmature and will have hard seeds and stringy flesh. Purchase summer squash that are of average size since those that are overly large may be fibrous, while those that are overly small may be inferior in flavor.

Summer squash is very fragile and should be handled with care as small punctures will lead to decay. It should be stored unwashed in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, where it will keep for about seven days. While it can be frozen, this will make the flesh much softer. To do so, blanch slices of summer squash for two minutes before freezing.

Summer squash is an excellent source of manganese and vitamin C. It is also a very good source of magnesium, vitamin A, dietary fiber, potassium, copper, folate, and phosphorous. In addition, summer squash is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, calcium, zinc, niacin, and protein.

Stuffed French Toast

This is an 'informal' recipe (a term I use to describe things I just throw together). I've tossed it together on four or five occasions and it is a great hit at the breakfast table everytime. French toast is an easy yet tasty breakfast. It's also great for using up bread that's on the verge of becoming just a little too old. There are many variations of French toast but the key ingredients are always eggs and bread, obviously. This recipe makes 5 or 6 slices.

Stuffed French Toast

1 loaf of unsliced bread (egg bread works very well)
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
butter

For the filling:

4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 tsp lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Slice the bread into 1 1/2 inch thick slices.

For the custard - mix the eggs, milk, and vanilla. Beat until combined.

For the filling - mix all of the filling ingredients until combined.

Using the tip of a sharp knife, cut a 1-1/2-inch wide pocket in the side of each bread slice. Fill the pockets with the blueberry mixture, dividing evenly.

Heat a skillet until hot. Grease the skillet with butter.

Dip the slices of french toast in the egg mixture. Carefully place the slices in the hot skillet (it is likely that you will need to do this in two or three batches). When the bottom is browned, flip. If the french toast browns too quickly or appears to be burning you may need to decrease the heat.

When both sides are browned remove to an oven proof baking dish.

When all of the french toast is fried and in the oven proof baking dish, place the dish in the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove and serve with maple syrup.

I will often slice the stuffed french toast on the diagonal to make for a more attractive presentation.