BrownSugar AppleCinnamon Baked French Toast

*disclaimer: I started writing this on April 1st...it is now April 5th...ughh I'm so bad at this, sorry...*

ohmygosh this was the hardest thing i've ever made and it tasted horrible!!!

....APRIL FOOLS!!!!!! hahahahahahahaha!!

....okay, not the best, I know. I exhausted my April Fool's-ing yesterday actually, when my boyfriend Mitch had his glasses off and contacts out (read: he can't see a thing) and I asked him if he wanted some of what I was eating. He said, "What is it?" I said, "Peanuts." It was actually butterscotch, which is one of the very few foods that he doesn't like. I mean REALLY doesn't like. He happily opened his mouth for me to put a salty, crunchy, tasty peanut inside, and then promptly was VERY disappointed in what he actually got.

I know, I know, it was kind of mean to have a laugh at the expense of the blind kid, but his reaction was priceless, and I think he still likes me, so it's all good. ...maybe you had to be there...

...now I feel awkward....

Before I make things any worse, how about I just give you the recipe for this tasty breakfast treat and we call it a day, huh? Will some yummy-looking pictures make things a little better? I hope so...

1 granny smith apple
1 loaf of crusty bread; I used Italian batard, but sourdough would be great, or whatever you can get that's a little bit special. Whatever you do don't use plain old white bread. You're cooler than that.
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon plus more for sprinkling
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup brown sugar

Peel and core the apple, then cut it into very thin slices, like this:









Slice your loaf of bread into about 1/4" slices. I cut on a slight diagonal, so the pieces would be a little bigger.

Can I get an 'amen' for crusty bread?!

Crack the eggs into a bowl, then add the milk, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Whisk until well combined.

Grease a 9" x 13" baking pan with cooking spray, or butter, if you like.

One at a time, soak enough pieces of bread in the egg mixture to form a continuous layer in the bottom of the pan. This should be about half the loaf. The pieces should be touching, and there should be as little open space as possible.

Evenly sprinkle a half a cup of brown sugar over the layer of bread and sprinkle some more cinnamon too if you like. Then make a layer of apple slices on top of the bread and sugar. It should start to look like this:

Make another layer of bread with the second half of your loaf then pour any remaining egg mixture over the top. Then get ready for the tricky part: this time, do a layer of apples AND THEN the remaining 1/4 c of brown sugar and some cinnamon so you'll get a nice caramelization on top of the apples when it bakes. Can you handle it? I hope so...

When your pan is all set, preheat your oven to 400° F. I know it's a little unusual to not do this ahead of time, but the stuff in the pan wants a little time to get to know each other before they have to go through the rigors that are involved in being in a 400° oven. Also, the bread will get nice and fluffy as it bakes if the egg gets a chance to really soak into it.

I baked mine for 20 minutes on the middle rack. This made it crispy on top and more moist through the bottom. If you want it to be softer, more like a bread pudding, check on things after 15 minutes, and if you want it more french toast-y and crisper the whole way through, maybe go for 23-25 minutes, depending on your oven.

It was really tasty with butter and syrup, but some vanilla ice cream would've been even better. Ice cream for breakfast? Why not... You're going to work out today, right? ;) It was also good after it had been in the refrigerator for a while...I think I've mentioned how I like leftovers cold.

So that's it! Super easy, right? I hope you enjoy my creation as much as I did! Let me know what you think! :)

Chocomallowbutterscotch Bars! :D

Are you reading the title and thinking "Choco...what??" Don't even worry about it. Just skip the reading part and go as quickly as you can through the making part so you can get to the eating part.

I know I promised you noodles last weekend and a) I should know better than to say I'll do something over the weekend, and b) I really wasn't that proud of the result. These bars that I made last night however, are a very different story.

I have a very distinct memory of the first time my mom made these. I was in fourth grade and my friend Hillary and I had been playing outside. We came inside for whatever reason and my mom and just taken these out of the refrigerator and said, "Do you want to try some?" Well chocolate is involved, so obviously the answer is 'yes,' but I had no idea that I was about to taste the most delicious thing that I'd yet had in my young life. I think I actually said, "Mom! Why haven't you made these before!?" 

At that age you assume that your mom knows everything, and therefore she must've always known how to make these amazing bars and was holding out on me. I thought it was terribly cruel. I don't remember her response, probably because I was too busy stuffing my face.

Now, these may not look like much, but try to judge from what's not there rather than what is. As you can see, almost half the pan is gone and like I said, I made these last night. These are such an amazing combination of salty and sweet and soft and smooth and melty that there's no way they'll last the weekend. Not around Mitch and I, that's for sure.

So without further ado....

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup peanut butter (I've always used creamy, but crunchy would be interesting too! Let me know how it goes if you try it!)

1/2 cup butter

1 bag mini marshmallows

Put the first four ingredients into a saucepan on med-low heat and stir until melted and smooth.

Line a baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. It really doesn't matter what size pan you use. I used a 13" x 9" and that was great. The smaller the pan, the thicker the bars!

Pour the marshmallows into the pan and spread them out evenly.

Pour the melted chocolate mixture over the marshmallows and use a spatula to spread it out evenly as well.

Lick the spatula. You know you want to.

Put the pan in the refrigerator and let set, then cut into bars, but don't share. Just make sure you run one mile for every piece you eat. (No fair eating the whole thing as one big "piece," either.) If you're super impatient, put the pan in the freezer. That's what I did last night and they were ready in about 15 minutes.

If you don't eat these all in one sitting, they're better kept in the fridge than at room temperature. They get too melty!

That's all! Super simple, super awesome! Please enjoy :)