Krispy Kreme is one of my dirty food secrets. I don’t hunt it down (thankfully there aren’t that many in Sydney) but if I pass one during a weak moment then yeah, I break. Sigh. Why wasn’t I born craving broccoli and inspired to live a sugar free life? OK. So if I have to have a jelly doughnut every now and then, the least I can do is make it at home so it’s healthier. And then I thought, “Hmmm…..what if I made it like french toast?”. Sometimes I have to give myself points for coming up with a nifty idea. But really, it’s not because I’m a genius or anything, far from it in any aspect of my life. It’s actually just a reflection of my slyness and laziness. The health benefit is just incidental.
Slyness – because if it’s french toast, you can have it for breakfast; Laziness – because I don’t have the patience to make things with yeast. And I hate cleaning up after deep frying; and Incidental health benefit – because it’s not deep fried and it’s made using bread, it’s only 230 calories per serving. Less actually, because the nutrition analysis doesn’t take into account that rounds are cut out of the bread so you don’t actually use a whole slice.
Jam Jelly Doughnut French Toast really is ridiculously easy to make. You simply make jam sandwiches out of rounds cut out from ordinary white bread, dip it in an egg mixture, cook until golden then dust with sugar. The only thing to remember is to make sure you don’t spread the jam all the way to the edge because otherwise when you are handling it the jam might ooze out. Cutting the bread into rounds is optional – I did it because it makes it look more like jam doughnuts, but you don’t have to do this. For me it served an extra purpose because I need bread crumbs to make something I have planned for the weekend so I saved the off cuts for that. A great tip for cutting rounds out of bread is to use a large tinned tomato can (empty and washed). It’s the perfect size for pressing large rounds out of most sandwich breads. In this particular case the loaf I was using was smaller than usual and the can was too big so I had to cut the rounds out with a knife ( just stacked them and did 3 at a time). Don’t throw out the bread crusts! Keep them to make croutons or bread crumbs – or get creative and take 10 minutes to make Cinnamon Sugar Bread Crust Treats or Parmesan Thyme Bread Crust Snacks!
I’ve been on a French Toast mission lately. Here are the other ones I’ve shared. If I had to pick one to take with me to a deserted island, it would have to be the Parmesan French Toast. It is everything you know and love about french toast in savoury form, with a golden crunchy cheesy crust. SO GOOD!
More cute spins on French Toast
We all love classic French Toast – but sometimes it’s nice to try something different!
Cinnamon French Toast Sticks – and Bites! Strawberry Nutella French Toast Roll Ups Bacon French Toast Muffins Hasselback Baked French Toast S’mores French Toast Apple Cinnamon French Toast Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast
