Challah French Toast with Caramelized Apples and Whipped Cream

With Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur already passing this year, I am going through some serious withdraws of Challah. Challah is this magical Jewish bread that tastes like sweet pillows of love. I may sound absolutely ridiculous saying that but Challah is pretty much the tastiest type of bread you can possibly eat, and it is even better when it's dipped in egg and milk, fried in butter and covered with caramelized apples and whipped cream!

I made Challah french toast a couple of weeks ago from the leftover Challah that I had from the holidays. I decided to go all out with my french toast because I rarely make any sort of sweet breakfast, let alone bread covered in cream and sugar. For my Challah french toast, I decided to add caramelized apples and whipped cream but you can switch it to caramelized bananas or keep it plain and let the Challah shine on its own!

I like toppings so I added additional ingredients. Here is how I did it:

 Challah French Toast with Caramelized Apples and Whipped Cream

Challah French Toast
- 1 Loaf of Challah
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups of whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbs salted butter
- Pinch of salt
- Handfull of chopped walnuts

Caramelized Apples
- 1 large apple (peeked and thinly sliced)
- 4 tbs salted butter
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- Pinch of salt

Vanilla Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbs sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Take a shallow baking dish. Crack the three eggs and pour the milk in the dish. Whisk the eggs and milk together. Add vanilla, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Whisk all ingredient together.

Heat a large frying pan on the stove. Add the salted butter.

Take the loaf of Challah and slice it into 1 inch thick pieces. Dip the Challah in the egg and milk mixture and flip the bread on both sides. Once the Challah has sucked up enough of the wet ingredients, place it in the frying pan. Cook the Challah on both sides between 3-5 minutes. Repeat for all slices.

Place a separate frying pan on the stove. Add the butter, brown sugar and salt and let it cook until the the sugar has fully dissolved and starts to bubble slightly. Take the sliced apples and add it in the heated butter/sugar. Cook for 3-5 minutes until the apples are soft. Make sure that the sugar doesn't burn.

In a large bowl, pour the cream, sugar and vanilla. Whisk together until the cream becomes stiff  (5 minutes or so).

To assemble the french toast, take a slice of the challah french toast. Pour the carmelized apples over the Challah, add a dollop of whipped cream on top and sprinkle a few pieces of walnuts.

Enjoy!

Anne

Pumpkin Spice Granola

'Tis the season to include pumpkin in every possible product imaginable. Whether it be the classic PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte) or in stranger combinations, pumpkin salsa, every product at the grocery store seems to have a pumpkin flavored edition. I'll be honest, I don't hate it, in fact, I kind of love it! I am a pumpkin spice junkie! I recently went to Trader Joe's and had a field day in the Pumpkin flavored isle (yes, they do have a section entirely devoted to pumpkin flavored products). I purchased pumpkin spice oatmeal, pumpkin spice tea.. You name it, I've probably tried it!

I decided to make pumpkin spice granola because one, I obviously have a slight addiction to pumpkin spice and two, I may equally have the same addiction to granola. So I figured, why not combine the two! I am not the first to have done this, but I'm sure glad I tried it!

Here's how I made it:

Pumpkin Spice Granola
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup shredded coconuts
- 3/4 slivered almonds
- 3/4 chopped walnuts
- 2 cups pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 tbs + 2 tsp coconut oil (melted)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger
- Pinch of salt

Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Combine all of the dry ingredients in one bowl and all of the wet ingredients in the other. Add the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix until everything is combined.

Evenly disperse the wet granola on two baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes and then stir. Bake for another 15 minutes and stir again. Finally, bake for another 15-20 minutes until dry. Take the granola out of the oven and let it cool before placing it in an air tight container.

Enjoy!

Anne