Apple Donut French Toast

For me, one of the best things about a long weekend is having the time to sleep in, and to make a proper weekend breakfast!  For breakfast on Easter Monday, I transformed half a loaf of stale challah and an old apple into a decadent plate of Apple Donut French Toast.  ("Apfelkrapfen Arme Ritter" auf Deutsch!)

My Apfelkrapfen Arme Ritter were based on Nigella's fabulous donut French toast (made previously, here), with the added deliciousness of grated apples and a couple of other little tweaks, which I'll talk through below.  (Nigella's original recipe is available on her website here.)

I started with some stale challah...

Stale challah

...and cut it into thick slices.  I then made a deep cut in each slice, almost all the way through, to make a pocket for the apple stuffing.  This is much easier if the bread is quite stiff - heh - and if you have a very sharp serrated knife.

Sliced slices

Next, I peeled and grated a large apple...

...and wodged the grated apple into the challah pockets.  There's no need to add sugar to the apple, as you'll want a bit of sour contrast against the sugar that you'll add later.

Here's the egg dipping mixture: 2 eggs, 1/4 cup of milk and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

I whisked the mixture well, then soaked the bread slices in it, leaving it for a good couple of minutes on each side so that the bread could soak up all that eggy-vanilla goodness.

After that, I fried the pockets in a bit (ok, a lot) of butter on a low-medium heat for a few minutes on each side, until lightly browned and cooked through.

The final (essential!) step, was dredging the cooked slices in a mixture of icing sugar and cinnamon.  The amount of sugar you add is up to you, but a little hint of cinnamon is absolutely essential, transforming the apple French toast into apple donut French toast.  Ta-dah!

These were a delicious, decadent breakfast for a lazy weekend morning.  With the liquid from the grated apple and the eggy-vanilla soaking liquid, they turned slightly custardy on the inside - gorgeous!  It wasn't a huge amount of work to stuff the bread with grated apples, and I'd highly recommend giving it a go if you find yourself stuck with some apples and a loaf of stale bread.  If that seems a bit too much to cope with in the morning (we've all been there), then I think that a nice alternative would be to make ordinary French toast and simply cut up and sautée some apples in a little butter to have alongside.  Enjoy!

For me, one of the best things about a long weekend is having the time to sleep in, and to make a proper weekend breakfast!  For breakfast on Easter Monday, I transformed half a loaf of stale challah and an old apple into a decadent plate of Apple Donut French Toast.  ("Apfelkrapfen Arme Ritter" auf Deutsch!)

My Apfelkrapfen Arme Ritter were based on Nigella's fabulous donut French toast (made previously, here), with the added deliciousness of grated apples and a couple of other little tweaks, which I'll talk through below.  (Nigella's original recipe is available on her website here.)

I started with some stale challah...

Stale challah

...and cut it into thick slices.  I then made a deep cut in each slice, almost all the way through, to make a pocket for the apple stuffing.  This is much easier if the bread is quite stiff - heh - and if you have a very sharp serrated knife.

Sliced slices

Next, I peeled and grated a large apple...

...and wodged the grated apple into the challah pockets.  There's no need to add sugar to the apple, as you'll want a bit of sour contrast against the sugar that you'll add later.

Here's the egg dipping mixture: 2 eggs, 1/4 cup of milk and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

I whisked the mixture well, then soaked the bread slices in it, leaving it for a good couple of minutes on each side so that the bread could soak up all that eggy-vanilla goodness.

After that, I fried the pockets in a bit (ok, a lot) of butter on a low-medium heat for a few minutes on each side, until lightly browned and cooked through.

The final (essential!) step, was dredging the cooked slices in a mixture of icing sugar and cinnamon.  The amount of sugar you add is up to you, but a little hint of cinnamon is absolutely essential, transforming the apple French toast into apple donut French toast.  Ta-dah!

These were a delicious, decadent breakfast for a lazy weekend morning.  With the liquid from the grated apple and the eggy-vanilla soaking liquid, they turned slightly custardy on the inside - gorgeous!  It wasn't a huge amount of work to stuff the bread with grated apples, and I'd highly recommend giving it a go if you find yourself stuck with some apples and a loaf of stale bread.  If that seems a bit too much to cope with in the morning (we've all been there), then I think that a nice alternative would be to make ordinary French toast and simply cut up and sautée some apples in a little butter to have alongside.  Enjoy!