Savory (Gruyere-Filled) French Toast with Raspberry Preserves

Going out to breakfast sounds nice. Pre-child John and I used to go out to breakfast a lot. Now we don't. Myles is in the "grab everrrrrrything he sees" phase so it makes for a difficult eating time. This kid has the strongest grip. Even his doctor laughed out loud commenting on how strong he is. By the way he's crawling. Yes, ladies and gentleman I have a crawler at 7 months old. I mean, I know I'm bias but this little guy is really smart and a really fast learner. He loves to dance and sing with me and I swear this kid can already understand a beat. He is the happiest, most energetic baby.It's rare, but when he's tired and not so wiggly, he burrows his head into my neck and just rests his head on my shoulder, and I just hold him with both arms and sway and my eyes leak because I just freaking love him so much. I wish I could save nuggets of time and replay them when he is grown. He is my greatest joy.Speaking of joy, let's get back to breakfast and how you don't need to go out to breakfast this Mother's Day either.Because I have this for you: it's warm, gooey, gruyere cheese-filled French toast smothered in salted butter and beautiful raspberry preserves. I may or may not be salivating as I type this out.With this French toast, we get both savory and sweet my indecisive friends, and it IS HEAVEN.It's the perfect weekend breakfast.It's the perfect breakfast to make your mom.Or you.Or a lady you love that means a lot to you.Or yourself. You should treat yo-self.Speaking of treat-yo self...May your weekend be filled with warm cheesy breakfasts. Love you friends.

Savory Gruyere-Filled French Toast with Raspberry Preserves

Fitting for Mother's Day, my mom just happened to be in town when I made this. In fact we ate this so fast in the morning that we didn't have any left over for my sister to try later that day.... which was kind of embarrassing because we felt like we had zero self control eating an entire loaf of French toast filled with cheese between 3 people (me, my mom and John) but YOU GUYS. Please make this and just try holding back.

• ½ cup / 115ml cream (preferably grass fed)
• ½ cup / 115ml whole milk (preferably grass fed)
• 3 eggs (preferably pasture raised, lightly beaten)
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 loaf brioche or challah bread or sandwich bread (sliced into 1 inch / 2.5cm slices (day-old bread works best) - )
• 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
• fillings: gruyere cheese, cream cheese, raspberry preserves and or chocolate chips (my favorite combo is the gruyere cheese inside the bread topped with the preserves.)
• salted butter for cooking and to serve

1. Preheat your oven to 250°F / 120°C and put a wire cooling rack inside a sheet pan and place in the oven to get warm. This is the method I use to keep the French toast warm after it's been made. The wire wrack ensures that the toast will stay slightly crisp on the outside and not get soggy.
2. In a medium sized, bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cream and salt and pepper and set aside. You may want to transfer the mixture to a shallow bowl/container for easier, even dipping.
3. Use a serrated knife to slice your bread into 1 inch slices. Now go back and cut your bread slices in half - starting from the bottom of the bread and working your way up to the top but don't cut all the way through the top of the bread - leave the tops of your slices intact.
4. Put a generous amount of shredded gruyere cheese in between the bread but avoiding the edges, like you're making a cheese sandwich. *See the picture of me lifting the bread revealing the cheese underneath as a reference.
   
5. Lay out all of your dry,  cheese-filled slices on a sheet pan.
6. Quickly dip each slice into your cream + egg + milk mixture, flipping the bread carefully so each side soaks up some of the mixture, and the cheese still stays in the middle. Don't let your bread linger too long or it will get soggy.
7. tip: I dipped all of my bread slices in the cream mixture all at once and then laid them on a sheet pan. This ensures that I can cook my french toast as I go, without worrying about dipping, cooking, dipping and cooking and making a mess. As soon as a piece of French toast is finished cooking, put it in the oven on your cooling rack + sheet pan set up and so it can stay warm.
8. On a low heat, warm your skillet until butter starts to bubble but not brown. Cook each wet bread slice until golden brown, making sure that you "re-butter" the pan after each slice. I find that low heat works best for this because it allows the cheese to melt without overcooking the outside of the bread.
9. This is the best part: Serve french toast warm with more salted butter and warmed raspberry preserves. Bonne Maman preserves is my jam, so I encourage you to get a jar to go with this recipe just because the tangy sweetness of the raspberry goes so stinking perfectly with the buttery brioche and the savory cheese. I'm still drooling about this breakfast. John, make this again for me will you?

You can easily make the french toast in it's entirety ahead of time - (like we're talking the day before even!) and heat it up in the oven at 350F for about 10 minutes. Lay all the french toast out on a sheet pan and then heat it up. No need to flip the french toast, but I suppose you could? Just keep an eye on it, some ovens run hotter than others and I don't want yours to burn. 

This post was sponsored by Bonne Maman but all opinions are my own. Thank you Bonne Maman for sponsoring this post! Did you know? Bonne Maman has no artificial coloring or preservatives and never uses GMO ingredients.... AND it just happens to be my favorite jam. Thus it was a great preserve for us to partner with.