Challah French Toast Stuffed with Cranberry-Orange Relish

Finally, after having digested my post-Thanksgiving binge of Food Network programming, I can once again face my stack of holiday food magazines and think about planning some new meals. Having seen an overwhelming number of suggestions and preparations for holiday leftovers, the one that really stood out wasn’t the “101 ways to make last night’s mashed potatoes appetizing again.”

It was, instead, a segment that appeared on Thanksgiving weekend Friday on The Today Show. Tyler Florence was demonstrating to Lester Holt how to make Stuffed French Toast using challah and leftover cranberry sauce from a can. Stuffed French Toast is one of those things that I love to get when I eat brunch out someplace, but which I’ve never gotten around to trying to make at home.

 

Stuffed French Toast with Turkey Bacon

Canned cranberry sauce is just not one of those things I can stand.  I’m more of a homemade, back of the bag recipe Cranberry Relish person. That is always one of the leftovers. In fact, I found a jar that I know was from our holiday meal in my parents’ refrigerator just last weekend.  Stumped for ideas on how to finish up this condiment, other than putting it to use on a turkey sandwich, I decided to see how it would work in a Stuffed French Toast recipe:

Challah French Toast Stuffed with Cranberry-Orange Relish

 

Prep Time:  30 minutes

 

Serves: (4 people/2 slices per person)

 

Ingredients:

1/2 recipe Cranberry-Orange Relish from bag of Ocean Spray cranberries

1-8 oz. container Whipped Cream Cheese

1 loaf day-old Challah Bread

Walnuts or Pecans, as preferred, chopped

2 Eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup Milk

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Butter or Neutral Oil

Maple syrup or Confectioners’ Sugar

 

Prepping Ingredients

 

Assembly:

Prepare relish per instructions on the back of the bag.  Add chopped nuts, if desired.  Combine relish and cream cheese.  The best way to do this is to start with 2 tablespoons cream cheese to every 3 tablespoons of relish, taste, and adjust the ratio to your liking.

 

 Prepping to stuff the Challah

 

Slice challah loaf into 1-inch-thick pieces.  Cut a slit in the center of each slice of challah and continue to cut open, leaving the sides and bottom intact, as though opening a pita pocket.  Thickly spread the relish-cream cheese mixture into the opening and press down to close.

 

Stuffed, un-cooked French Toast

 

In bowl, beat together eggs, milk, and vanilla.  Melt butter or heat oil (whichever is your preferred fat) in skillet or on griddle.  Dip each side of the stuffed challah into the egg-milk mixture and shake off the excess liquid.

 

Place liquid-coated challah in skillet or on griddle and cook each side until golden brown.  Serve sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar or drizzled with maple syrup, as you prefer.

 

The finished product

 

Buon appetito!