Add a little flavor and delight to breakfast with this pineapple-stuffed French toast recipe. This is a great way to have your fruit and eat it too. Plus, it serves eight, so it's a perfect dish for a brunch gathering at home or a few days' worth of breakfasts prepared ahead of time.
Ingredients
- ½ fresh pineapple
- 1 Tbsp. honey
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- Dash of Kosher salt
- 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
- 16 slices whole grain bread
- 5 eggs, large
- ½ cup low-fat or fat-free lactose-free dairy milk
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar
- Nonstick spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Finely dice the pineapple and combine with the honey, cinnamon, and dash of salt in a roasting pan. Bake for 30 minutes.
- After the pineapple has been pulled from the oven, drain the juice from the roasting pan and into the cottage cheese; stir together.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla.
- Assemble the French toast: Scoop a spoonful of cottage cheese into the center of half of the slices of bread. Place a spoonful of roasted pineapple on top each scoop of cottage cheese. Finish with another slice of bread.
- Gently press together the sandwiches and using a round cookie cutter or a drinking glass, cut a round out of each stack. Pinch the edges of each circle together to seal in the filling.
- Dip each round into the egg mixture and place in a hot skillet that has been coated with nonstick spray.
- Toast each side until crispy. Serve warm with a sprinkle of powdered sugar on top.
Tips/Tricks - Note with alterations the nutritional values will be affected, including lactose content
**Treat this recipe as a template and tailor it to your personal preferences: Make it sweeter by stuffing more pineapple into each serving, add moisture by adding more cottage cheese. And if you prefer less texture altogether, substitute a creamy ricotta cheese for the cottage cheese.
**To save time (and further play with flavors), substitute your favorite jams, jellies, or fresh fruit for the roasted pineapple.
**Allow leftover crusts to get stale and pulse into homemade breadcrumbs in a food processor. Don’t let anything go to waste!
