French Toast

French Toast – it’s not just sliced bread with an egg wash.

  • simple syrup
  • pancake syrup
  • caramel sauce
  • compotes
  • apple pie filling

French Toast

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Ingredients
  

Batter

  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp allspice
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon ( see comments below )

Toast

  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 6 1" slab Stale French bread

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400F
  • Whisk everything in the Batter group together.
  • Soak the bread in the batter.
  • Pan fry the bread in butter until golden grown, approx 3 minutes per side.
  • Put the bread on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 12-ish minutes - until crisp and slightly puffed. You can use a greased sheet and flip halfway through, but I prefer the parchment paper.

Notes

As for the cinnamon, I don't like how it tends to float on the top of the batter and isn't evenly distributed, so I sometimes omit this, depending on what toppings I'm using. I could use half the cinnamon, and when the batter is half used, mix in the rest, but that takes effort.

 

Simple syrup

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Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp grated citrus zest ( optional )

Instructions
 

  • Whisk together while bringing to a boil.
  • Allow to cool.
  • Optional after cooled - stir in 1/4 cup of brandy, cognac, bourbon, or any liqueur.

 

Pancake Syrup

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Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup brown sugar ( see below for making your own )
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla or other flavour extract

Instructions
 

  • Whisk sugar and water while bringing to a boil.
  • Reduce to medium heat and boil 4 minutes.
  • Whisk in butter and flavouring.
  • Cook for 1 minute, then remove from heat.
  • Can be stored for 3 weeks in the refrigerator.

Notes

1 cup of brown sugar = 1 cup of white sugar + 1 tbsp molasses.

Super Simple Caramel Sauce

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Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup brown sugar ( see below for making your own )
  • 1/2 cup salted butter
  • 1/4 cup cream
  • 1 tsp flavour extract ( optional but I really like vanilla )

Instructions
 

  • Stirring constantly at medium-low heat, bring everything other than the extract to a gentle boil.
  • Cook until it thickens, around 5 minutes once it reaches a gentle boil.
  • Add the optional extract, turn off the heat, keep stirring another minute.
  • Remove from heat, and let cool to at most 130F before putting in a jar and refrigerating until cold.

Notes

1 cup brown sugar = 1 cup white sugar + 1 tbsp molasses
The proper way to make caramel sauce is to use white sugar, and heat it until it starts caramelizing ... the easiest and safest way is by cooking the white sugar and water until fully dissolved, then raising the heat to high, bringing to a boil, and let the solution turn to an amber colour, around 8 minutes. Remove from heat, and carefully whisk in 3/4 cup HWC. Once fully incorporated, stir in 3 tbsp salted butter (for bonus points use unsalted butter and add 1 tsp sea salt to make this a salted caramel sauce).

Check his post for more compotes, but they’re all basically fruit + sugar syrup, heated up but the pieces stay mostly intact. The optional flavourings can include wine, brandy, cognac, liqueurs, citrus peel. cinnamon, cloves, anything that goes into pumpkin spice mix, candied fruit, etc.

 

Apple Pie Filling (canned version)

This is just like the canned stuff, only better.
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Course Dessert

Ingredients
  

Apples

  • 4 cups Peeled, cored, diced apples (1/2" or 1 cm cubes)
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup sugar

Sauce

  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup apple juice
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch

Instructions
 

  • I like to toss the apple pieces in the lemon juice as I'm cutting the apples, just to prevent them turning brown.
  • Mix the "apples" ingredients int a pot on medium-high heat, and gently stir for 15-20 minutes. The total cooking time will vary greatly depending how firm the apples are, and how soft you want the finished product.
  • Meanwhile, in another saucepan, bring 1 cup of apple juice to a boil.
  • Add the cinnamon and cornstarch, and whisk fully until incorporated.
  • Add this mixture to the cooking apples 5 minutes into the cooking process.
  • Gently stir, and let simmer until desired firmness is reached.

Notes

Oobleck - google it sometime.
It's always best to make a slurry of liquid + cornstarch before adding it to anything just to prevent clumps