Stuffed French toast
Although many folks consider French toast a breakfast food, you can serve this popular dish for any time of the day. For a classy meal, you can even split the toast slices, stuff them with cheese and serve them up with sugared strawberries.
Ingredients
Instructions
In medium bowl, stir together strawberries and 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Set aside.
In small bowl, stir together ricotta, 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla and remaining 1 teaspoon sugar until thoroughly blended.
Make a pocket in each 1-inch bread slice by cutting from top to within 1/2 inch of bottom. Fill each pocket with 2 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture. Or, spread 2 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture onto each of 2 thin slices of bread and place remaining bread on top to make 2 sandwiches.
In small bowl, beat together eggs, milk and remaining 1/4 teaspoon vanilla until well blended. Pour into 9 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Place filled bread slices in egg mixture. Soak bread, letting stand about 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until egg mixture is absorbed.
Rub butter evenly on baking sheet. Place soaked bread on baking sheet. Bake in preheated 375° F oven 10 minutes. Turn slices. Continue baking until puffed and golden brown, about 10 minutes.
To serve, top each bread slice with 1 tablespoon of the remaining ricotta mixture and 1/4 cup of the reserved strawberries.
Notes
Alternatively, coat baking sheet with cooking spray. If preparing French toast for one, cook it in a skillet.
In the Cajun areas of Louisiana, French toast is called pain perdu, lost bread. Long ago, thrifty cooks discovered they could rescue day-old (or older) bread which otherwise would have been wasted by soaking it in a mixture of eggs and milk before cooking it. When it's dressed up with a topping, though, who would ever guess that French toast had such a practical origin?
Source
Food in U.S.A.