Weekend Cooking - {French Toast}

this weekend, as a special valentine's day brunch for my wonderful boyfriend, i decided to make blackberry and cream cheese stuffed french toast with orange butter.  since he works long hours during the week, we decided to celebrate v-day a little early.  sunday morning we teamed up and tackled brunch together!  i geared up for french toast duty, while he fried up some taters and bacon.  {personal fun fact: i was vegetarian for 15 years and still don't eat much meat, so bacon is definitely classified in the man's cooking department!}

this was my very first attempt at french toast, but being a food network junkie i felt confident!  we found this recipe in a great magazine called Ready Made, and originally it called for mixed berries and goat cheese.  since we had an overabundance of blackberries in the fridge, and neither one of us is a fan of goat cheese, we decided to change it up a bit by substituting blackberries and cream cheese.  aside from these minor changes, i followed the recipe exactly and it came out just perfect!! it was so delicious i don't even think these pictures do it justice.  it was like eating pie for breakfast!


so... if you ever have to host a fancy brunch, or you're just in the mood to splurge for breakfast, here's the awesome recipe! {with my own substitutions}...

Blackberry & Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast
serves 4
orange butter
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temp
1 T freshly grated orange zest, divided
2 T fresh-squeezed orange juice
french toast
4 eggs
1 c whole milk
1T freshly grated orange zest
1T honey (i happened to have an orange blossom honey in the pantry that i used instead of clover honey)
pinch of salt
4 slices french bread, 1 inch think
4 T cream cheese, at room temp
1 c blackberries, halved
2 T unsalted butter
maple syrup, to serve

1___make the butter by combining all ingredients (1 tbsp of zest) in a small bowl.  refridgerate until ready to use.
2___in a shallow glass baking dish, whisk together eggs, milk, remaining orange zest, honey, and salt.  set aside.
3___cut an opening that extends along the middle of each bread slice.  carefully spread one-fourth of cream cheese into opening, then fill with blackberries.  gently press and repeat with remaining  slices.  transfer to custard; let sit for 15 seconds on each side.
4___prehead oven to 200 degrees F.  heat 1 tbsp butter over medium heat in a large saute pan.  once butter has melted, add two slices of the bread and cook about 2 minutes per side until golden brown.  transfer to a baking sheet and keep warmin the over while preparing the remaining two servings.
5___serve with orange butter and syrup.  store leftover butter, covered, in the fridge and use within one week.

even though i got lazy and opted for tater tots instead of home made hashed browns, i still got all fancy with some fresh squeezed orange juice.  play around with some of your own yummy french toast recipes and let me know how it goes!

BON APPETIT!!