Chocolate Challah French Toast
Around the holidays I decided to try making chocolate mousse. I went online, found a few recipes, and decided to give it a shot. I mixed everything together, put the “mousse” in the fridge, and waited for it to thicken.
It never did.
I’d planned on making challah French toast and figured that I might as well put the “mousse” (that never was) to good use as a custard. Thus chocolate challah French toast was born.
1 loaf of challah bread
4 eggs
1 ½ cups coconut milk (or heavy cream)
4 oz chocolate (chopped)
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
Slice the loaf of bread into slices about 1 to 1 ½ inches thick. If the slices are too thin they’ll fall apart in the custard but make them too thick and they won’t absorb enough of the custard.
Bring the coconut milk to a simmer on the stove or place it in the microwave for a minute or two until it’s hot. You don’t want it to boil; it just needs to be hot enough to melt the chocolate. Place the chocolate in a bowl, pour over the heated coconut milk, and stir until the chocolate is completely melted.
Place the eggs in a separate bowl and whisk them together to break up the egg whites and yolks. Continue whisking the eggs and slowly add in a bit of the warm coconut milk / chocolate mixture. This is called tempering and slowly brings the eggs up to temperature while preventing them from scrambling. Once the eggs are warmed through, add the egg mixture back to the chocolate mixture. Mix in the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Place the slices of bread in a single layer in a bowl or dish and pour over the chocolate custard. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least four hours but overnight would be also be perfectly fine. Flip the slices over about half way through to ensure both sides are evenly coated in the custard.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a large casserole dish or jelly roll pan. Remove the bread from the fridge and lay the slices in the dish / pan in a single layer. Bake in the oven and check the French toast after about 10-15 minutes or around the time the kitchen starts smelling really amazing. You’re looking for the custard to thicken up a bit and it should look like melted chocolate.
Remove from the oven and enjoy or cool and store in the fridge.
Depending on how long you bake the French toast and if you decide to flip it, the chocolate may develop a fudgy texture / appearance.
Tags: bread, breakfast, food, recipes