Knock You Off Your Feet French Toast

I am telling you, this is the absolute BEST french toast you will ever eat.


It's like a cinnamon roll, caramel roll and french toast all in one!


Take a loaf of french bread. Slice 6 pieces of bread about 1 inch thick. Set the slices aside.

French toast custard:
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

Whisk the custard ingredients together, until well blended and brown sugar is dissolved.

Place the bread slices in a large casserole dish, pour the custard over the bread. Let the mixture soak into both sides of the bread.

While the bread is soaking, you can make the bottom layer of caramel for the french toast.


In a small skillet or medium saucepan, heat 3 tbsp butter, 3 tbsp cream, 1/8 cup maple syrup, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon. You will constantly stir the mixture until it becomes thick and bubbly.


Remove the mixture from the heat, and pour it into the bottom of a baking dish.

Remove the bread from the custard mixture. Place the bread on a flat griddle on medium-low heat. Brown both sides of the french toast, it is done when the bread begins to firm up.


Place the cooked French Toast on top of the caramel sauce in the baking dish. Top the french toast with 1/8 cup of brown sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Place under the broiler for 3-5 minutes. Watch it closely, or you will have burnt toast!

While the french toast is baking, you will want to make another batch of caramel sauce (as described above).

Serve the french toast with the caramel sauce drizzled over the top. No need for syrup.

Intimidation Conquered

I have always wanted to make palmiers...they look so delicate, so deliciously flaky and buttery. They will not disappoint.

The surprising silver lining is that these 'cookies' are surprisingly easy to make.

The goods:

1 package of frozen puff pastry dough (cheating is what makes this easy, I've tried making puff pastry and and I am going to tell you, it's worth your time to just buy the frozen dough)

1 jar of chocolate hazelnut spread. (Nutella can be found in the Chamberlain, South Dakota, grocery store. So, no excuses on where to find this!)

Hazelnuts -- about 1/2 cup

You have to thaw the puff pastry dough. This is that part that takes a little time and planning on your part. If you are going to make these, put the puff pasty in the fridge after you buy it from the grocery, or set the dough out on the counter for about 45 min to 1 hour before you plan to make these.

I had a little dilemma when I decided to test out this recipe. We were invited from an impromptu dinner at neighbor's house last Sunday night. I didn't decide to work on these until...well....let's just say the 45 minute thaw time was not an option.

You can thaw the puff pastry in the microwave (though the package doesn't suggest it). Set your microwave on the lowest setting, pop in the pastry for a couple of minutes and check the pastry after the two minutes go by. Then repeat the process, as the dough becomes more and more thawed, be careful with how long you leave it in the micro. You don't want to start to cook this stuff.

Okay, so now onto the recipe. Enough about the proper thawing of puff pastry.

Once your dough is thawed, lay it out on a floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangular shape, about 9 X 11 (this is a rough measure, just don't make the dough to thick).

Now for the yummy stuff. Take a knife (an offset knife works the best) and spread the chocolate hazelnut spread over the entire surface of the pastry dough. Don't spread it too thick, keep it no thicker than a piece of paper.

Chop up your hazelnuts, sprinkle them on top of the chocolate spread.

Start from long side of the rectangular pastry dough and roll the dough (much like you are rolling cinnamon roll dough) up to the center of the pastry. You will be looking a piece of dough that has one half rolled up and the other half still laying flat. Then you repeat and roll up the other side of the dough.

There will be a space in between each side that you just rolled up, pinch it shut (use water to seal it).

Take a serrated knife and slice the pastry no thicker than about 1/4 inch. With each slice you have another cookie. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 425 for about 10 minutes.


Oh, these are so tasty with a cup of coffee.



Now, that is the standard version, courtesy of "Chocolate and Baking".

Here's what I am going to do next time I make these:

Instead of the hazelnuts, I am going to use the chocolate hazelnut spread or pure dark chocolate and top it with a caramel sauce.

1 tbsp cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla

Put all of this into a saucepan, on medium heat melt it together. Make sure you stir this constantly and don't leave it unattended. You will scorch it.

Chocolate Caramel Palmiers, Mmmmmmm

Tastiest Grilled Cheese

Try this:

Loaf of french bread
Gorgonzola cheese
Olive Oil


Slice yourself two pieces of french bread. Brush on the olive oil on one side of each piece of bread. Slice a piece of Gorgonzola, and make a sandwich. Grill both sides, just as you would a grilled cheese.

Pour honey directly onto your plate and dip the finished sandwich into the honey with each bite. You will be in heaven...it's that easy and that good.

For you meat eaters, try an Asiago and Ham grilled cheese. Use the same french bread loaf and olive oil, add a slice of Asiago cheese, a bit of thin sliced smoked ham, and grill to perfection. Little tip: grill it open faced, with the meat and cheese directly on the griddle for about 30 seconds (this will help get the hard Asiago cheese melted and gooey.)

Enjoy...