Recipe Cream cheese and banana stuffed French toast

[JAS_OH1]

In the US, cream cheese stuffed French toast is a popular breakfast item at some restaurants. I do like it overall, but oftentimes I have found it too sweet, as they tend to use sugar-sweetened cream cheese for the filling. That, along with the syrup and sometimes sweet bread or sweetened egg mixture, can make it too cloyingly sweet for my personal tastes. For this recipe, I used a mixture of plain cream cheese and naturally sweet banana for the filling, and it came out great! I have in the past used brioche bread in the recipe, but this time I chose to use a crusty French bread and it was a good choice. I also chose to top it with a little more of the cream cheese and banana mixture, along with some fresh strawberries (I think that strawberries pair nicely with banana), and finally a few drizzles of honey and maple syrup, but of course use whatever kind of syrup you like. The final result was a lovely combination of tangy, sweet, and custardy deliciousness. I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Note: I felt my bread was still too soft in the middle after slicing it, so I put it on a parchment lined baking tray and put it in the oven for about 30 minutes on the lowest setting to dry it out.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serving size: 2-4 people

Ingredients:
6 slices of crusty bread, approximately 3/4 inch to 1 inch thick
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz. softened cream cheese
1 medium size banana
2-3 TBSP butter for cooking the dipped bread slices
Fruit topping of choice
Syrup of choice

Using a hand mixer, cream together the softened cream cheese and banana until smooth. Set aside. Whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla.



Drench 3 bread slices for several minutes on both sides in the mixture until well-absorbed and the bread feels springy to the touch (not saturated to the point of falling apart). Melt butter on medium-low heat and cook the slices for a few minutes on each side until lightly golden brown. Place the 3 cooked bread slices aside on a tray or baking pan and set in the oven on a very low temperature to stay warm. Repeat the drenching/cooking steps with the final 3 bread slices.

After flipping the last 3 slices, spoon about 2 TBSP of the cream cheese and banana mixture on top of each slice and top with the 3 slices that had been set aside.



Plate the stuffed French toast and spread a little more of the cream cheese and banana mixture on top, then add your choice of fruit and syrup. Enjoy!