Peanut Butter French Toast

 

Our weekday mornings are hectic to say the least. Everyone is leaving at different times, there is madness galore with people looking for backpacks, water bottles, or homework, and we don't have any time to sit down as a family to enjoy a breakfast together. I usually make sure to have an assortment of cereals in the pantry and also muffins or breakfast burritos in the freezer for quick on-the-go eating. So when the weekend finally arrives, we like to slow things down a bit and enjoy breakfast or brunch as a family.  Weekend breakfasts are a great opportunity to "splurge" a little and eat something we wouldn't normally have for breakfast during the week. It also means, that we can usually skip lunch that day which frees up some time for me in the kitchen as well.

For these special breakfasts, I like to make things like pancakes, waffles, quiches or french toast. Last Sunday felt like a french toast kind of morning, so I looked on the fabulous internet for a recipe. I didn't have to look further than allrecipes.com, which is a great source for so many dishes. I wanted a french toast that was a bit different than our old standby, but something that still could be made quickly and that I knew the kids would enjoy. That is when this Peanut Butter French Toast caught my eye. After reading some of the reviews and the trouble people had in incorporating the peanut butter into the milk and egg mixture, I knew what would solve this problem. I decided to add all the ingredients into my blender just like I did with my peanut butter ice cream a while back, and again this worked like a charm. Fantastic smooth batter ready for dipping. I also decided to go with a typical french bread cut on an angle rather than a plain white bread. After frying the battered bread in a bit of butter, I added sliced bananas along with maple syrup to each portion to complete the presentation.


This recipe would have made Elvis proud, in fact, I think he would have been "All shook up" about it! It was simply wonderful. The bread was cooked perfectly with just a hint of peanut butter, without  it being overpowering. The bananas and the maple syrup were definitely the icing on the cake french toast. All plates were practically licked clean, everyone was very happy and tummy's were full . So, if peanut butter and french toast are your kind of breakfast as well, I would definitely give this recipe a try, it certainly is a new favorite in our home, and has already been requested again.

Peanut Butter French Toast
(adapted from allrecipes.com)
(Printable Recipe)


Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 slices French bread
Butter or oil for frying
Sliced banana
Maple syrup


Preparation:


In a blender add milk, eggs, peanut butter, sugar, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Blend until smooth.


Heat the butter or oil in a griddle or frying pan over medium heat.


Dunk each slice of bread in egg mixture, soaking both sides. Place in pan, and cook on each side until golden. Serve hot with sliced bananas and maple syrup.

Ice Cream Fridays: Date, Rum, and Pecan Ice Cream

Welcome to another edition of Ice Cream Fridays. Every Friday during the next few months (or until I get tired of it) you can look forward to a new ice cream recipe which will hopefully inspire you to break out your old dust covered ice cream maker that is hiding somewhere in a closet (yes, I'm talking about you). Since I'm always looking for inspiration and ideas, feel free to leave me a comment here on my blog or on my facebook page, and let me know what ice cream flavor you would like to see. Who knows, you might just get lucky and it will be featured the following week.

This week's featured flavor was solely inspired by my love of rum. Now, please let me clarify, since I don't want you to think I'm knocking back rum and cokes every night, and that is what prompted this post. No, in fact, I don't even like drinking it, but for some reason, something magically happens when you add dark rum to desserts. It transforms anything from cakes, pies and ice creams into something I can't resist. The flavor and scent of rum get me every time. It makes me extremely happy that two of my favorite cookbooks "Baking, from my home to yours" by Dorie Greenspan, along with David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop", seem to be having a love affair with the dark "gold" as much as I do.

At first glance, many people might skip over today's flavor in the book, but I'm telling you, it would be a big mistake. Dates in an ice cream might not be your ideal dessert, but with the addition of rum and pecans, the ice cream is transformed into something dreams are made of. This ice cream is custard based with dried dates that are macerated in rum prior to adding them to the mixture, then to take it one step further, pecans are thrown into the mix. David gives you a few options of what kind of pecans. You can either toast them, add spiced pecans, or you can add "Wet Pecans" which is what I chose. They are toasted pecans which are added to boiling maple syrup for a few seconds before cooling the mixture again. All of these different components make this ice cream irresistible.

My husband and I loved this flavor. It is reminiscent of rum raisin, but to me it had more depth, perhaps because of the maple nuts. This is most definitely an ice cream that is "adult only". My children did not care for this one at all, which prompted me to mix up a different kid friendly ice cream which will be featured soon. So, if rum floats your boat, or makes your skirt fly up, this flavor is for you!

Date, Rum, and Pecan Ice Cream
(adapted from The Perfect Scoop)
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

12 dates (4 ounces, 115 g) pitted
1/4 cup (60 ml) dark rum

1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
2/3 cup (130 g) sugar
Big pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups (310 ml) heavy cream
6 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons dark rum
3/4 cup Wet Pecans (recipe to follow)

Preparation:

To prepare the dates, chop them into 1/2 -inch pieces. Combine the date pieces with the rum in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir. Cover and let macerate at room temperature for at least 4 hours (this can be done up to 1 day ahead).

To make the ice cream, warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Pour the cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warm egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Mix in the vanilla and rum, then stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. During the last few minutes of churning, add the nuts and date pieces.

Wet Pecans

Ingredients:

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (70 ml) dark amber maple syrup
3/4 cup (75 g) pecans, toasted and very coarsely chopped
Big pinch of salt

Preparation:

Heat the maple syrup in a small skillet or saucepan until it just begins to come to a full boil. Stir in the pecans and the pinch of salt, then cook until the liquid comes to a full boil once again. Stir the nuts for 10 seconds, then remove them from the heat and let cool completely. The nuts will still be wet and sticky when cooled.