Banana Chocolate Chip French Toast with dry banana crumble on top

 

Following my series of cooking Hannah Miles recipes, today I have made this special Banana Chocolate Chip French Toast. The focus of this recipe is, again, banana and choco chips. It seems this combination is one of the greatest for any sweet tooth. Last time I made banana choco chip pancake and was dazzled by its taste. Now with the French toast version, the combination of the sweet, slightly nutty flavor of the bananas with the rich, creamy taste of the chocolate chips and the warm, fluffy French toast makes for a delicious and indulgent breakfast treat.

Hannah Miles's contribution here is probably the dry banana crumble on both sides of the French toast. It brings a crunchy texture that contrasts with the soft and fluffy French toast and so you feel like you can eat more and more. Attention for you to remember is that you should not burn the crumble in any way because it is very easy to be burnt when exposed to the hot pan. Keep the pan at medium heat all of the time is the key here.

French toast is different from pancake that you dont have to prepare any batter. You just need to make the filling and have some ready bread slices on a mixture of egg, milk or cream, sugar, and cinnamon. Be sure to get some thick bread slices so that your sharp knife can go through the middle to create a bag for holding the filling. Hannah Miles usually use brioche because you can easily cut through and make a perfect "bag", but it's ok if you dont have it (trust your cutting skill). In the end, you should have something like this. Reference for the same technique can be found here.

Below is my short version of recipe.

Step 1: prepare the filling. Smash 1 big banana or 2 small bananas (sizes can indeed vary) in lemon juice (1/2) to a smooth puree. Then stir in choco chips and a teaspoon of honey and set aside. 

Step 2: prepare crumble. You can chop dry bananas on a cutting board, or use a food processor to crush them. 

Step 3: prepare the dipping liquid. As usually seen, you whisk 1 egg in 40-60ml cream (depend on the thickness of your bread slices) with 1 tbsp of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Whisk until well scrambled so that  you don’t see streaks of egg on the French toast.

Step 4: cooking French toast. Stuff the filling in Step 2 into bread slices that were already cut. Dip both sides onto dipping liquid in Step 3 and then dap both sides onto the crumble, then bring straight to the hot pan with melted butter. Cook for a few minutes until the bread is golden brown but banana chips do not burn.

Cut the slides into quarters or halves, dust with icing sugar and serve.