Challah French Toast Waffles

Amarante

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 12:05 pm

This was a great excuse to bring out the waffle maker. Lots of fun and delicious. Not to mention a good use of stale challah LOL

Challah French Toast Waffles

Excerpt From: Adrienne Cheatham - Sunday Best

I’ve always had a thing for crispy, crunchy textures—which is why I was never much of a fan of French toast, with its gooey, eggy centers. My family’s absolute favorite special breakfast item was waffles, which allowed us to play with our old-school iron. This eventually led to a brilliant discovery: pressing French toast preserves its custardy qualities while doubling down on caramelization and adding an incredible all-over crunch.

This technique also proved to be an ingenious time-saver for my mom. Instead of babysitting a pan on the stove, she could pop a couple of slices in the waffle iron, tend to one of the millions of other things she had to do, and come back a few minutes later. I continue to employ this trick when I’m strapped for time but still want to treat myself, and I like to use fluffy challah because it takes only seconds to soak up batter.

—SERVES 3—

3 large eggs
⅔ cup whole milk
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of kosher salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or 1 scraped vanilla bean, if you have it)
1 tablespoon orange zest (optional but awesome)

6 (1-inch-thick) slices semi-stale challah bread

Unsalted butter or nonstick cooking spray, for greasing

Preheat a waffle iron according to the manufacturer’s directions.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, vanilla, and orange zest (if using, which you totally should). One by one, drop each challah slice into the mixture, turning to coat completely. Transfer the soaked bread to a shallow dish and pour any remaining egg mixture over the slices. Let the bread sit for about 10 minutes to soak it all up.

Grease the waffle iron on both sides with butter or cooking spray. Place a challah slice in the waffle iron; if your iron comfortably fits multiple slices, go for it. Close the waffle iron and cook for about 5 minutes, until crispy, golden brown, and cooked through.

Serve immediately

lovecouches

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 12:50 pm

Amarante wrote:

This was a great excuse to bring out the waffle maker. Lots of fun and delicious. Not to mention a good use of stale challah LOL

Thanks for sharing Hooray

mochamix18

Fri, Jul 22 2022, 1:52 am

Amarante wrote:

Did you make waffles?

Now that I have dusted off the waffle maker, I think I will try a recipe for waffle latkes I clipped a while ago - if I can find it. LOL

Same idea but as I recall the recipe used frozen hash brown potatoes.

Yes, I made French toast waffles using this recipe https://www.allrecipes.com/rec.....les/. Latke waffles sounds like fun. I don’t think we have frozen hash brown potatoes in Israel though 🤷‍♀️. I’m sure I could improvise with regular potatoes, just more work.

Amarante

Fri, Jul 22 2022, 9:46 am

mochamix18 wrote:

Found the recipe - it's from Ina Garten's (the Bare Contessa) new cookbook - Modern Comfort Food

It's like making latkes in terms of grating the potatoes.

1½ pounds russet (baking) potatoes, peeled (2 large)
1 medium yellow onion
2 tablespoons melted butter, plus extra for the waffle iron
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Preheat a Belgian or standard waffle iron on medium-high heat.

Grate the potatoes in a food processor fitted with the grating disk. (You can also grate them by hand on a box grater as you would grate carrots.) Transfer the potatoes to a clean kitchen towel and spread them out. Working quickly, roll the towel up like a jelly roll. Press firmly to squeeze out any moisture but not so hard that you break up the potatoes. Transfer the potatoes to a large mixing bowl. Grate the onion the same way you grated the potatoes, spreading it out on the kitchen towel and squeezing out the moisture. Add the onion to the bowl. Add the butter, egg, flour, 1½ teaspoons salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and mix with a fork.

When the waffle iron is hot, brush both sides generously with melted butter. Place a generous ¹⁄₃ cup of the potato mixture on each of the four waffle divisions, spreading it out with a fork. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on your waffle iron, until the potatoes are browned and crispy. Transfer the potatoes, browner side up, to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and keep warm in the oven for up to 30 minutes while you prepare the next batch. Repeat with the remaining mixture to make 8 hash browns. Transfer to a platter, sprinkle with salt, and serve hot.