Stuffed French Toast

I don't really know why it didn't occur to me to do this before, but STUFFED FRENCH TOAST, Y'ALL.

In theory, it is the most perfect breakfast food ever. French Toast is always a good idea and throwing cream cheese into the mix is a solid idea. But, even though Alexis and I are both all in on the components of Stuffed French Toast, neither of us have ever been happy with it when we order it out. It's always just a bit too much. Too sweet, too rich, and too much.

FIXED IT.

So, future Alexis. Here is the Stuffed French Toast that you loved as a kid. It's a little different than the stuff at IHOP or Eat 'n Park or anywhere else, but you can always add something to take it to that extreme.

Or leave it just like this. That works, too.

Stuffed French Toast
Texas Toast
Eggs
Milk
Almond extract
Cream cheese
Apricot jam
Fresh strawberries

Let's start with talking about quantities of stuff, shall we? I didn't list them because reasons. This is one of those things that you need to make for however many people you have so let's work it backwards. Each person gets:

- 2 pieces of Texas Toast
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon milk
- Dash almond extract
- Enough cream cheese to coat one piece of that fancy thick bread
- Enough apricot jam to coat one piece of that fancy thick bread
- Two chopped up strawberries

Like this:

So multiply and all of that and figure out your total quantities of all of the things. Got it? Good.

2. Do that spready thing with the cream cheese and jam. Sprinkle on the strawberries until you match the photo above. Then slap those suckers into sandwiches.

By the way, you're using Texas Toast because it's good and thick and balances the rich of the other things.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and almond extract. Then dip the giant sandwich thing in the egg batter and coat all sides.

4. Toss that egg coated majesty into a non-stick skillet. In a perfect world, it should have some melted butter in it before you do. The tricky part of this she-bang is that you have to cook the French Toast over a medium to low heat. Seriously. It's important. If the heat is too high, you'll burn the outside and have raw egg on the inside, so it's better to have the heat too low if you're going to miss the mark. At our house, the perfect temp is a notch below the halfway mark. When one side is done, flip the whole thing over and cook the other side.

5. Top with a little powdered sugar and fresh strawberries. It doesn't need syrup or anything crazy like that, but feel free to do as you please.