(Practically) Stuffed French Toast

I feel like my blog is depressing this month.  Well, I don't think it's depressing (I wasn't kidding when I said I'm super obsessive about preventing child abuse), but it's probably a bit much for normal people.  Thus, we're going to switch it up for this post and talk about something far less depressing:  stuffed French toast.

I came across this tutorial for stuffed French toast on Pinterest.  It was so delicious.  However, it was kind of a pain in the butt to make.  The directions said to get a loaf of French bread and cut it into X inch wide slices, then cut a X inch wide and deep slit into each slice, and then somehow shovel your fruity cream cheese into these slits without squishing or tearing the bread.  After much foot stomping and frustrated bread-hacking with my paring knife, I couldn't help but feel like there should be an easier way to make stuffed French toast.

I have good news.  There is an easier way!  A much easier way.  No cutting.  No slitting.  No stuffing.  How is it stuffed french toast without doing any stuffing?  You shall see.

As a side note, I'm also kind of grammar/punctuation/spelling Nazi, and I can't decide whether the "French" in "stuffed French toast" should be capitalized.  I think it looks weird, but I'm fairly sure the rule is that it should be capitalized.  Thus, I will begrudgingly capitalize.  Not that I have a problem with the French, but I just think it's a little unfair to "stuffed" and "toast" which are both very important parts of this recipe.  I would capitalize all of it, but that just seems excessive.  Oh, the dilemmas of the English language.

Here are your ingredients:
Bread (normal store-bought pre-sliced bread)
Eggs
Milk
Vanilla
Cinnamon
Vegetable Oil or Spray
Cream Cheese
Fresh Fruit or Jam (or both)
Powdered Sugar

First of all, make some normal French toast with normal bread.  My rule of thumb is that 1 egg will make two slices of French toast.  You need two slices of bread for one stuffed French toast masterpiece.  So you can use that to gauge how many eggs to use.  As for the milk, a splash will do.  The fewer the eggs, the smaller the splash.  If you're using more eggs, do a bigger splash.  Then do some drips of vanilla and sprinkles of cinnamon.  Maybe this is weird, but in my family we never measure our French toast ingredients.  I mean the eggs aren't really much to measure, but as far as the milk, vanilla, and cinnamon go, a splash or sprinkle works for me every time.  Some splashes and sprinkles are smaller or bigger than others, but it always tastes good.  French toast is very forgiving.  However, if you're nervous and need more structure, the above-mentioned frustrating stuffed French toast tutorial links to a more structured recipe.

(Now is a good time to assert that my photography is less than desirable, but it does the trick)

After you've got your egg-milk-cinnamon mixture all sufficiently mixed, get your frying pan or griddle heated up (at about medium heat) and pour/spray some vegetable oil on there.  I like to use a lot of oil because it makes it taste sooooo good.  Really, my French toast turns out kind of deep fried.  But hey, French toast really isn't all that healthy anyway, so you might as well make it freaking delicious while you're at it.  You can use a lesser degree of oil if you're trying to be more healthy.

(Note the obscene amount of oil)

Dip both sides of your bread in the egg mixture and get it frying right away.  Don't dip your bread unless you're going to put it directly on your hot pan.  Premature dipping leads to soggy gross French toast.  You don't want that.  Unless you like it that way.  Your call. 

 Fry up both sides until it's cooked through and pleasantly browned, and then turn the heat down to low-ish.

Here's where the stuffed part comes in.  Get out a butter knife and cut off a dab of cream cheese from the block.  Put the dab on a piece of cooked French toast.  Don't bother trying to spread it around; just put it on the toast.  Put some more dabs on your toast until you achieve a satisfactory level of cream cheese. 

After that, put some fruit or jam on the same slice of toast.  If you're using jam, don't worry too much about spreading it around.  As long as it's distributed somewhat evenly it'll taste wonderful.  If you choose to use fresh fruit (like strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries) I'd recommend stirring some granulated sugar into the washed (and cut, if necessary) fruit and then letting it sit for a few minutes to let the sugar dissolve and soak in.  Apply cream cheese and fruit on half of the cooked toasts.

Here's the final step.  Take a slice of plain cooked toast and put it on top of your cream cheese-y, fruity slice of toast.  All of the sudden it's magically stuffed without doing any stuffing!  How simple is that?  I like to leave it on the warm pan for a little while to let the cream cheese get soft and warm.

Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top, and garnish with more jam or fruit if you'd like, and you're ready to serve!  No syrup required--it's sweet enough without it.  This tastes exactly like the difficult version.  But it's infinitely easier and faster.  And I make it way too often.