Croissant French Toast

Can this get any more French? Not only does it have a croissant in it, it’s also French toast! Albeit the French call it pain perdu and they are surely not the ones to have invented using up stale bread by soaking it in custard and frying it.

Last week I wrote about a recipe for using croissants in a bread and butter pudding. However there were even more croissants leftover from the catering at work I mentioned before. I have come up with another great solution to save croissants when I was visiting my mum over xmas. She mentioned she has a croissant left over and whether I still want to eat it. It was already two days old and she was going to throw it away. I get excited every time friends or family want to throw something away and I come to the rescue. Often people are thrilled to see that I am turning something they were about to throw away into something delicious.

That was the case with that croissant. It was already flat and looked a little lifeless. I sliced it careful in order not to break it and soaked it in a simple custard of a splash of milk, an egg, a tablespoon of brown sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla essence. I toasted a handful of slivered almonds in a dry pan so they take on colour, then melted a tablespoon of butter in the same pan and fried the soaked croissants halves on both sides until golden. The French toast croissant was then scattered with the toasted slivered almonds, dusted with icing sugar and served with a dollop of apricot jam. I cannot think of a better breakfast to start the day.

My mum was so intrigued by this creative solution that she said the following day that she still had an old croissant in the freezer, if I want to make it again the next day. Coming back to the leftover croissants I took home from work: When I recently mentioned to a co-worker that I turned these wonderful croissants into a lovely French toast, my boss who overheard the conversation, proclaimed with conviction: "I would have thrown them away!" As if it was a virtue to throw away food in the 21st century. Albeit, that kind of attitude is not the only reason why I want to leave this place…even though it pains me that any leftover croissants will land in the bin when I’m gone.   

Croissant French Toast  

• 1 stale croissant, halved lengthwise

• 1 egg - splash of milk

• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence (or a few drops almond essence)

• a handful of slivered almonds

• a tablespoon of butter for frying

• icing sugar to dust

• apricot jam  

Break the egg into a shallow bowl large enough to hold two croissants halves comfortably. Add the milk, brown sugar and vanilla essence and whisk to combine. Soak the croissant halves until the milk the custard is fully absorbed. This might take about 10 minutes. You can still add the remaining custard gradually when the custard-soaked croissant has set a little in the pan.

While the croissant is soaked, toast the slivered almonds in a dry pan over medium heat until they start to smell nutty and have taken on a light golden-brown colour. Don’t keep your eye off them, because they may burn quickly.

Remove the almonds from the pan and melt a tablespoon of butter in the same pan. Add the soaked croissant halves and fry on both sides. You can now slowly and gradually add any custard you have leftover in the bowl. Remove from the pan once both sides are golden brown and a little crispy. Scatter with the toasted almonds, dust with icing sugar and serve with apricot jam or another jam of your choice.