I have been craving French toast, but because I live in a pretty small apartment, frying food makes my entire place smell like oil and whatever it is that I fried, and I hate that smell! So I decided to satisfy my craving for French toast, but instead of frying the toast, I decided to bake them instead. I looked online for recipes, but none explained what I had in mind. So, this is how I made my cheesecake stuffed French toast…

Ingredients:

1 Loaf of bread. I bought what was on sale. Go for the thicker slices, like the Texas toast that I used here

1 container of cream cheese (226 grams or 8 oz)

4 eggs

3 cups of milk

3 tablespoons of sugar

1 tablespoon of Cinnamon sugar or combine the sugar and cinnamon yourself

1 cup of frozen or fresh fruits (whatever types of fruits you like)

Honey or syrup to taste (optional)

Jam in any flavor you like (optional)

Cooking spray/melted butter or oil

1 Large rectangular baking dish

Mix one egg with the entire contents of the cream cheese. You can use a hand or stand mixer as well. Or just get a workout and do it yourself. You want the mixture to be creamy not chunky.

Mix 3 eggs with 3 cups of milk then set aside. You can also use a fork to mix the eggs and milk.

Spray pan with cooking spray and heat oven to 350. You can use butter or oil to coat the pan as well.

Place bread on baking pan. I was able to fit 12 slices; 6 sandwiches in total.

I will be making 3 French toasts with cream cheese and jam and 3 with only cream cheese.

Spread the cream cheese on bottom slice first. Then add a dollop of jam and spread it evenly around the slice.

Then cover with the top slice. Continue doing this until you finish all the “sandwiches.”

After doing the 3 sandwiches with cream cheese and jam, I added 1 tbsp of sugar to the cheese mixture and finished the last 3 sandwiches with only the cheese filling. The reason I did not add sugar to the cheese mixture at the beginning is because the jam is sweet enough already and did not need the added sugar.

Once all the sandwiches are done, pour the milk and egg mixture over the bread until evenly distributed.

Once all the slices are coated, add a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar to your liking on top of each sandwich (optional).  Then put dish in the oven for about 20 to 30 minutes.

While the bread is baking, it is time to make the berry topping. I put a pan on medium heat and added about a tablespoon of oil. Once the pan was hot I threw in the berries and about 2 tablespoons of sugar. Then I mixed the sugar and berries until the mixture became thick and glossy and the sugar was fully dissolved.

After 20 minutes in the oven I pulled out the toast.

Nice and golden. Here is what the center looks like for both the cheese-only sandwich and the one’s with jam.

Yum! Then I removed a sandwich, and I added berries, honey and icing sugar on top.

My friend did not want icing sugar on hers. This was her French toast.

You have to make these! They were easy, delicious, and kinda healthy. 🙂