The Bridgewater House French Toast

By AzWench

Ingredients

• Cream Cheese Filling:
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon milk or cream
• 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries or fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
• 1/4 cup strawberry or raspberry preserves
• 2 tablespoons Chambord
• French Toast:
• 1 loaf French bread
• 2 cups milk or half-and-half
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
• vegetable oil
• Butter

Preparation

Step 1

For the filling, beat the cream cheese and milk in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Stir in the strawberries, pecans, preserves and liqueur.

For the French toast, cut the loaf diagonally into 1 1/2-inch slices using a serrated knife. Make a slit in the top of each bread slice cutting to form a pocket. Fill each pocket with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the filling. The stuffed bread slices may be frozen at this point for future use.

Whisk the milk, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in a bowl until blended. Soak the bread slices in the milk mixture until moderately saturated; drain. If the bread slices are frozen, partially thaw in the refrigerator before soaking in the milk mixture.

Coat a grill pan or skillet with oil and a small amount of butter and preheat. Saute the coated bread slices on the hot grill pan until brown on both sides. Serve warm with confectioners' sugar, fresh strawberries, fresh raspberries and/or toasted pecans.