French Toast with a nutty filling

In my household we always do Erev Shabat (Sabath Evening). The traditional ceremony involves blessing two Challas (white braided bread. You can get it plain (my hubbys favourit), sweet, which I like or with rasins).  Every week we are left with way too much Challa, which I turn into french toast Saturday morning. However, after eating it week in week out I started to get rather board with it. 

I read on the internet several times about filling french toasts and deep frying it. As I am just a little bit health concious deep frying is just not really what I would call for. So, I plaid around with some ideas and came up with this one. It is very versitile, supper easy to make and you can substitute the nut filling for other self made or  bought fillings. You need about 30 minutes from start to finish for a great breakfast.

16 slices of bread

Nut Mixture

1/4 cup oil OR 1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup packed brown or white sugar

1/2 cup chopped nuts - go wild, mix or just use one type.

Batter

1 cup milk

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 175°C.

During this time, heat the oil or butter together with the sugar to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in nuts. Set aside.

In a bowl mix the milk, eggs, granulated sugar and vanilla together. Dip 8 slices toast into the batter and place them back on the baking sheet. Spread a heaping tablespoons of the nut mixture onto each. Dip remaining bread slices into batter and place over nut filling to make a sandwich.

Bake for 20 minute or until hot. Serve immediately.

Prepare a baking sheet and place the bread slices on it. Bake for about 5 minutes or until lightly toasted. Remove from oven and set aside.