Peaches & Cream French Toast

At the weekend I like to pull the boat out a bit with breakfast if I can. Recipes like Peaches and Cream French Toast recipe are just the way to do that!
It may look a bit indulgent and over the top, but I can assure you, depending on the ingredients you choose to use, it can actually quite low in fat and calories. Especially if you choose to use low fat milk and cream cheese.
This is a case that you can totally get away with it and not have it affect the flavors or texture overly much. But of course, if you are not weight conscious and not bothered about calories, etc. go full fat all the way!
This is delicious! I guarantee your family will want to gobble it up!
There is nothing better at the weekend than having your family wake up to the deliciously warm aroma of peaches and maple syrup baking in this wonderful breakfast casserole!
Did I mention that it is also relatively low in processed sugars? It is! You can totally relax and feel good about feeding this to your family!
Not only that, but it is very easy to throw together and bakes quickly, making it the perfect lazy day breakfast!
Of course the basis for any good French Toast recipe is a good bread. You will want to use a sturdy French or Italian kind of bread for this. If it is a tiny bit stale, so much the better.
Cut it into thick slices. I like them to be about one inch thick myself. You can use an all white loaf, or if you are really health conscious use a whole wheat loaf, or if your family doesn't like whole grain bread use a half and half whole wheat and white bread. All work very well.
Unlike a lot of fruity French toast recipes you see out there, this is not a stuffed French toast recipe. There is no cutting pockets into bread or faffing about. Just slice it into thick slices.
The cream cheese gets spread on both outer sides of each slice of bread. Not inside. They then get laid out in a buttered baking dish. Again its your choice if you choose to spray the dish with a low fat cooking spray or use real butter.
Once that is in the dish you poke the bread all over with a fork. This helps the eggy custard mixture you are going to be pouring over it to soak into the bread.
Lets talk peaches. You could of course use fresh peaches if you want to. I always use tinned peaches. I buy them by the large tin already sliced. I prefer the ones packed in juice rather than in syrup.
Since you will probably be pouring some maple syrup over them to eat, it is important to me that I use peaches in the juice only, to cut back on the sugar content of the dish. Maple syrup is a natural sweetener and there is a bit of it in the egg mixture.
Canned peaches totally work in this, and to be honest I like canned peaches much more than those anemic rock hard peaches you find in the shops.
Just drain the peaches really well and then pat them dry before laying them out decoratively on top of each cheese coated slice of bread. You can keep the juice if you want after draining them.
I often use the juice from tinned fruit when I am making jello desserts. It adds extra flavor and tastes really good. Just use it as a part of the cold water that is asked for.
Once you have the peaches all laid out you need to sprinkle some toasted nuts on top. You could skip the toasted bit, but I love toasted nuts. Toasted nuts just taste nuttier. It doesn't require a lot of effort to toast nuts either.
I buy them by the bagful and toast the whole bag at once. Just spread them out onto a baking sheet and toast them in a moderate oven (375*F/190*C) for 8 to 10 minutes.
You will know when they are done because they will smell nice and nutty. Just take them out and let them cool to room temperature. I then store them in a heavy duty zip lock freezer bag, ready to use whenever I am needing nuts in my baking.
They are also nice to snack on. I do this to all my nuts. Seriously yummy! Today I used pecans.
The egg custard is a simple mixture of beaten eggs, milk, some melted butter, vanilla, ground cinnamon, a bit of sugar and maple syrup. Just beat that all together and pour it over top of everything in the pan. (If you want it to look especially pretty, save out a bit of the cinnamon and sprinkle it over the top just before popping this into the oven. Top tip here!)
And that's it. Your casserole is ready to bake. While it is baking I like to cook up some breakfast sausage and bacon.

Its the weekend, and you have saved calories and fat with the milk and the cream cheese so why not add the smell of frying sausage and bacon into the mix that will have your family scrambling out of bed!
Why not indeed! Sausage and bacon go wonderfully with this. If I am trying to be fancy, I will make bacon curls.
Just roll each slice of the bacon around your index finger into a curl and secure with a tooth pick. If you are really wanting to be efficient, you can actually pop the bacon and the sausage onto a baking sheet and bake it right along with the French toast.
Both will be done in about the same length of time and then you can get on with setting the table, putting on the coffee, getting out the juice etc.
Nothing could be simpler or more delicious. You can also use sliced apple if you don't want to use peaches, or if you want a Peach Melba kind of finish, sprinkle it with a few fresh raspberries to serve.
Maple syrup goes wonderfully with this. I always use pure Maple syrup, but when my children were growing up I used to make a homemade version of the syrup, using brown sugar, water and maple flavoring. This was also very good.

To make an easy homemade syrup all you need is 1 cup (200g) of brown sugar, 1/2 cup (120ml) of water, 1 TBS of butter, a pinch of salt and some maple flavoring (optional). Pop into a sauce pan. Cook and stir until it comes to a boil and the sugar has completely dissolved. Pour into a jug and serve warm or at room temperature. Easy peasy! Altogether this makes for a really delicious breakfast. If you are a smaller family and want to make this, just halve all of the ingredients and use 2 medium free range eggs instead of the large eggs! Scrumdiddlyumptious!
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Peaches & Cream French Toast

Yield: 4Author: Marie RaynerPrep time: 10 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 35 MinSimple, easy and delicious. You can substitute 1 large apple, peeled, cored and sliced for the peaches if you wish!

Ingredients

8 (1 inch thick) slices of French bread
3 ounces (85g)softened cream cheese
1 (29 ounce) tin of sliced peaches in juice, drained (2 -415g tins )
1é4 cup (30g) chopped toasted nuts (I like pecans)
1 cup (240ml)skim milk
1/3 cup (80ml) maple syrup
3 large free range eggs
2 TBS butter, melted
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 5. Butter a 9 by 13 inch baking dish.
Spread the cream cheese on both sides of the sliced French bread.
Lay out in the cream cheese spread slices in the prepped pan in a single layer.
Prick the bread all over with a fork and top with the peach slices. Sprinkle the nuts over top.
Whisk together the milk, maple syrup, eggs, butter, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Pour this mixture over the bread to cover.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until set. Serve warm with more syrup for pouring if desired.

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