For some reason I woke up thinking today was Saturday. My mind immediately went to brunch and French toast as I had been pondering French toast for the past few days. See, we never, ever have loaves of bread in our house. I’ve never been a big fan of bread, especially the ones that have any sort of decent shelf life, so I rarely pick up a loaf. But, when Marcus went to the store to grab some food before the blizzard he purchased not one, not two, but THREE various “loaves” of plastic wrapped pre-sliced “bread.” (He was all about an exceptionally large jar of Nutella that he found at the end of an aisle and wanted to play it safe.)

With this much fake bread lying around, you could most likely understand why I’ve been thinking about French toast. And, when you live in New York, you must do brunch on the weekends or I think they kick you out. So, it being (at least in my mind) Saturday, close to noon, and with three loaves of pre-sliced bread at my fingertips, I had at it.

Warm, gooey Nutella and French Toast. What’s not to love?

NUTELLA FRENCH TOAST SANDWICHES – adapted from Fine Cooking’s The Best of Breakfast 2011; makes 3 sandwiches

INGREDIENTS

• 6 slices white sandwich bread (fresh or slightly stale)
• nutella (the amount depends on how much you love the stuff)
• 3 large eggs
• 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
• ¾ cup heavy cream
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ⅜ tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp butter
• powdered sugar for dusting

DIRECTIONS
Cut each piece of bread into 4 triangles by slicing diagonally. In a medium bowl, wisk together the eggs and sugar until well combined. Wisk in the heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. Put the bread pieces in the bowl and press down gently to make sure they are all soaked. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium. Melt 1 Tbsp of the butter onto the skillet and quickly add the bread pieces in one layer. (Depending on the size of your skillet, you may need to cook the bread in two batches.) Cook until nicely browned, about two minutes. Turn each piece over with a spatula and cook the other side until nicely browned, about 1 ½ minutes. Transfer the cooked bread to a paper towel lined plate. Melt the other Tbsp of butter on the skillet and repeat the process with the remaining bread. While this second batch of bread is cooking, spread nutella onto the cooked, warm pieces of bread. Top with a bread triangle from the second batch when it is finished cooking. (If the bottoms feel cold, turn the heat off of the skillet, put the sandwiches cold side down onto it, and let them rewarm for a minute.) Put the French Toast triangle sandwiches on a plate and dust with powdered sugar. Serve warm.