Banana Stuffed French Toast

Ok - first entry to my foodventure. I was going to start with what I hinted at a couple of blog entries ago: the moscato cupcakes. However, the site where I got the recipe is going through some maintenance, so rather than posting a bum link, I'll move onto the next recipe.

Banana Stuffed French Toast

I was struggling to figure out what to do for Scott's birthday dinner. As an adult, he's come away from really doing anything to 'celebrate' his birthday, which is too strange to me, who 'CELEBRATES' her birthday for about a month. I would have a New Orleans' style parade if I didn't have to organize it.

But, because his birthday fell on a Monday and the weekend got away from me, I found myself scrambling at 9am to figure out what to do. I went to the Seiyu to get even the smallest gift that Violet could 'give' to her Daddy for his birthday, like the green tea Kit Kats he's grown to love, when I came across a small travel bottle of Cointreau. This reminded me that I've always wanted to try to make fancy french toast. So, the plan formed and I hit Google for the recipe. This is what I came across: banana stuffed French toast.

Here's the recipe:

Original recipe makes 6 servings

• 1 (1 pound) loaf French bread, cut into 1 inch slices
• 2 bananas, peeled and sliced
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1 tablespoon milk

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon orange liqueur
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1/4 cup butter
• confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions

1. Create a pocket about 2/3 of the way into each slice of bread by cutting along an edge. Fill pockets with 2 or 3 banana slices each.
2. In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, water, milk, vanilla extract, orange liqueur and orange zest. Dip the bread slices in the mixture, allowing slices to become saturated.
3. Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Place a few slices at a time in the skillet, and cook, turning once, until both sides are golden brown. Dust with confectioners' sugar to serve.

 

In the first run of the process, I found that I need to add more butter and make more batter for the next time: the well ran a little dry for the last few pieces. I also think that there needs to be a creamy aspect to the middle with the bananas, so the next time I'll be adding a bit of pudding in the middle just to give it that extra little kick.

I have decided that I want this to be my signature birthday dinner for my family, so this gives me the incentive to perfect this recipe. I do want to explore other recipes, like Creme Brulee French Toast or Grand Marnier French Toast (I've tried the latter and I tweaked the recipe right out the gate; more on that later). Here's hoping I keep up on this aspect to my blog.

Just keep cooking... just keep cooking...

Oh! And for the actual foodies out there: please give me tips!! I'll try to incorporate them and let you know how/when I do =)