Baked Babka French Toast Sticks With Chocolate Dipping Sauce Food

BAKED BABKA FRENCH TOAST STICKS WITH CHOCOLATE DIPPING SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray it with cooking spray.
• Cut each slice of bread into three sticks. Whisk together milk, egg, vanilla extract, and cinnamon in a large shallow dish. Dip each bread stick in the egg mixture quickly to avoid soaking the bread, yet coating it on all sides; shake off excess. Arrange bread sticks on the prepared baking sheet without them touching.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 8 minutes, flip them, spray lightly with cooking spray, and return to the oven until cooked through and golden brown, about 8 more minutes.
• Meanwhile, whisk together hazelnut spread, half-and-half, cocoa powder, corn syrup, and salt in a small saucepan on medium-low heat. Bring to a boil and immediately remove pan from the heat, whisking until smooth.
• Remove French toast sticks from the oven and serve warm with the chocolate dipping sauce.

CHURROS FRENCH TOAST WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE-ORANGE GANACHE

Steps:

• For the French toast: Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
• Cut each slice of bread lengthwise into thirds (18 pieces total). Transfer to a baking rack set over a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes to dry out. Remove from the oven and let sit for another 30 minutes before making the French toast.
• Meanwhile, make the ganache: Whisk the heavy cream and almond butter together in a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally¿the mixture doesn't have to be completely smooth. Remove from the heat, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes.
• Put the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl. (If the cream has cooled off significantly, reheat it nearly to a simmer.) Strain the hot cream over the chocolate through a fine strainer, add the orange zest, and let sit for 1 minute. Whisk until smooth. Keep warm.
• Continue with the French toast: Whisk together the 1 cup sugar, cinnamon and star anise in a shallow baking dish.
• In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, 2 tablespoons sugar, half-and-half and vanilla extract until very smooth. Transfer to a second shallow baking dish.
• Working in batches to avoid crowding the pan later on, soak the bread until saturated, turning a few times, about 3 minutes total.
• In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, heat half of the oil and half of the butter until melted and shimmering. In batches, add the soaked bread and cook, turning, until golden brown on all sides, about 30 seconds per side. Immediately remove from the pan, toss in the spiced sugar, and transfer to a platter. Repeat with the remaining oil, butter and bread.
• Serve the churros warm with the ganache for dipping.

CHOCOLATE-HAZELNUT BABKA FRENCH TOAST WITH CARAMELIZED BANANAS

Steps:

• For the French toast: Put the babka slices on a rack set over a baking sheet and let dry for a few hours.
• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F; put a baking sheet with a rack inside the oven.
• Whisk the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl until smooth. Whisk in the half-and-half. Transfer the custard to a baking dish. Place a few slices of the babka in the custard and let sit, turning once, until completely soaked through, 5 minutes.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter and 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large nonstick saute pan over medium heat until the butter foams. In batches (so you don't crowd the pan), cook the bread until golden brown on both sides and just cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer the cooked French toast to the baking sheet to keep warm.
• For the caramelized bananas: Melt the butter in a medium nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the sugar and cook until it just turns light golden brown, about 3 minutes. Place the sliced bananas in an even layer in the pan and cook until the bottoms become caramelized, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook another minute. Add the maple syrup and cook until just heated through, about 2 minutes.
• Serve the French toast topped with caramelized banana and dusted with confectioners' sugar.

BAKED PECAN FRENCH TOAST

Steps:

• Place the eggs, milk, sugar, nutmeg or cinnamon and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
• Mist the bottom of a 12 by 8-inch glass casserole with vegetable oil spray or brush with melted butter.
• Place the bread slices in a single layer in the pan.
• Pour the egg mixture over the bread, distributing it evenly.
• Turn the bread slices once.
• Cover the pan with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.
• The next morning, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• Remove the pan from the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap.
• Sprinkle the bread slices with pecans and drizzle with melted butter.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until bread slices puff up and pecans are deep brown but not burned.
• Serve warm with maple syrup.
• Instead of a cup of milk, use 2/3 cup orange juice and 1/3 cup of the milk.
• You can vary this further by adding a little grated orange zest with the pecans before baking.