Crunchy French Toast with Chocolate Filling

Here is a minor food confession that will either leave you utterly appalled by my lame palette, or… yeah, you’ll pretty much just be appalled: I don’t like eggs.

Oh, yeah – I love eggs when they are blended up to make a cake, or cookies, or even a nice loaf of gingerbread. Yes. Scrambled eggs? No. Hard boiled eggs? Uh uh. Omelets? You had to ask? No. So, when I’m doing breakfast, I happily focus on my beloved carb family. Waffles? Ohhhh yeah. Bagels dripping with melted butter? Yes please. French toast? Here’s my plate, pile it on.

For awhile, my French toast repertoire has been pretty solidly focused on a crunchy french toast recipe I have that is an oven-baked french toast coated with cornflake crumbs. The other day while I was driving, though, I thought about how when I was little if we baked and had leftover chocolate frosting, we used it as a “sandwich spread” of sorts on graham crackers. (If you’ve never tried it, you should. And then you better think twice about insulting my egg-hating palette, because I will have just redeemed myself).

I had chocolate on the brain, you see… so I started thinking about chocolate in my french toast.

AW YEAH.

It was phenomenal. It was just the right touch of sweet. AND, it made the use of maple syrup (which is a sticky mess) totally unnecessary.

(Now you’re probably thinking, “ENOUGH ALREADY! Get to the recipe!” So I will. Here you go!”)

Ingredients:
2 cups cornflake crumbs
1 loaf French bread
3 eggs
3/4 cups milk (I use fat-free because that’s what we have)
1 tsp vanilla extract (the real stuff – don’t use the fake stuff. EVER)
3/8 tsp salt (Just use the 1/2 tsp and don’t fill it up all the way – French toast is forgiving)
Chocolate spread
1/2 cup melted butter

I only had a smidge of Nutella left, and subbed the remainder of the recipe with this Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter. Both were good, but... Nutella was SO MUCH NOMMIER.

1. Squish your cornflakes. How fine you squash them is a matter of personally preference. You can pulse ’em in the blender for a super fine crumb. I like them a little bigger, so I put the cereal in a bag and squoosh them with a rolling pin. Pour your cornflake crumbs into a shallow dish. [Note: Right about now, you’ll want to start preheating your oven. 450 degrees, please.]

2. In another shallow dish, mix together your eggs, milk, vanilla and salt. Be sure you’re not using fake vanilla. If you use fake vanilla the terrorists win (Also, your food won’t taste as good. Really).

You'll want to slice your bread roughly 1/4" to 1/2" thick.

3. Slice your bread. I like to slice it about 1/4″ thick – but you don’t get graded on precision here. Just do your best. Slice an even number, though – you’ll be pairing them up in step four.

This is easy, right? You've made sandwiches before.

4. Smear the chocolate spread on one side of a slice of bread and then stick ’em together. Yeah, sandwiches! You’re making sandwiches! I will say again – the Nutella really makes for an amazing breakfast. It lends more of a “pain au chocolat” feel to the final product than the chocolate peanut butter does. Both are good, but… Nutella.

5. Put each sandwich first in the egg mixture (coating both sides) and then the cornflake mixture (coating both sides) before placing in a baking pan that you’ve sprayed with the nonstick cooking spray of your choice. Repeat this step until all your sandwiches are soggy and happily cornflake coated.

6. Drizzle your melted butter over all the slices.

7. Put in the oven and bake at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes or until golden on top.

This works great with a small sprinkle of powdered sugar on top. Be careful, that chocolate in the center gets HOT while baking, so you’ll want to try to resist eating it STRAIGHT OUT OF THE PAN (Learn from my mistakes, folks).

Sigh. Chocolate. For breakfast. I may be the best mom ever.

About sarah

Sarah is a book nerd, a music lover, an endorphin junkie, a coffee addict. Oh, and a goof ball. She writes, she tweets, and she sings off key.

Comments

  1. You are a GENIUS!

  2. Omg, Sarah. I am not speaking to you anymore!

  3. Holy Moses, Sarah.
    That’s insanity..

    I have never had the desire to try Nutella but this recipe, it might be my tipping point.

  4. I have a feeling if I make this recipe, my kids might think I’m the best Mom ever. Yum!!!!

  5. Hi, I am a lurker, and I tried this recipe this weekend. It was amazing! Thanks for sharing!

  6. Holy cow…must try this!!!

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