Ciabatta French Toast with Warm Apple Maple Syrup

This recipe for Ciabatta French Toast with Warm Apple Maple Syrup has been silently taunting me for a few months. First of all, anything with McIntosh apples has me at hello. Second, these are stuffed with Gruyère cheese, a pale yellow cheese similar in flavor to Swiss, so the combination of the savory and sweet flavors in the dish peaks my interest. Slices of ciabatta bread are stuffed with the cheese, soaked in an egg and buttermilk custard seasoned with nutmeg and black pepper and cooked in a skillet until golden brown. The French toast is served with a thickened syrup cooked of apples and shallots. There is something very homey, almost holiday-ish about this recipe. The combination of the cooked shallots, apple and ciabatta reminds me slightly of Thanksgiving stuffing (not that it tastes that way, it just reminds me of it!) This is not your mom’s French toast which probably has puddles of melted butter and maple syrup (albeit delicious!) but insteads appeals to a more savory palette. Looking for something different for brunch? Look no more!

The ingredients:

Wisk together apple cider and cornstarch in a bowl and set aside.

Melt butter in a skillet and add shallots, cooking until soft.

Add in the apple cider/cornstarch mixture, apples and maple syrup to the shallots. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, cooking until apples are soft. Set aside to cool.

Cut a deep slit into the ciabatta bread and stuff with Gruyère cheese. (I used individual ciabatta rolls because that was what my grocery store bakery carried.)

In a shallow dish, combine milk, buttermilk, nutmeg, egg, egg white, salt, and pepper. Place cheese-stuffed ciabatta slice (one at a time) into the mix until coated on both sides. (If using ciabatta rolls like I did, slice a thin layer off the top and bottom of each roll first to expose the inside of the bread for better coating.)