Chocolate and Strawberry Stuffed French Toast.

I love stuffed french toast, but I've never actually made it before. I'd order it at restaurants, whenever the opportunity arose, but I found that I was never quite filled, and often they were too sweet for me.

This recipe, on the other hand, is easy, filling, and sweet, but not too sweet. I wasn't too sure about the chocolate, actually, as I usually prefer strawberries with straight vanilla creaminess. Since the chocolate came in the form of chips, though, and not blended in to the cream, it turned out to really make this dish. Delicious.

 Chocolate and Strawberry Stuffed French Toast, from Ellie Krieger's So Easy Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c. nonfat milk (I used 1%)

3 eggs

1/2 t. vanilla extract (I eyed this, so, lots of vanilla here!)

1/4 c. part-skim ricotta cheese

8 slices whole wheat sandwich bread, crusts removed

1 8-oz container fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced (I imagine frozen would work here as well, though thaw and drain them first please!)

4 teaspoons bittersweet chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet, which I definitely prefer.)

cooking spray

2 t. confectioners' sugar

Directions:

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs and vanilla. Set aside.

Place 1 T. of the ricotta cheese in the center of 4 of the slices of bread and spread around slightly. Top each with about 6 slices of strawberries and 1 t. of chocolate chips. (Note here: your bread will hold together better in the end if you give yourself a small border around your filling of plain bread. If the filling gets to the edge, the bread doesn't like to stick together as well, and stuff falls out.) Cover each with another piece of bread to make a "sandwich".

Spray a large nonstick skillet or griddle with cooking spray and preheat over medium heat. Carefully dip each of the sandwiches into the egg mixture until completely moistened.  Then place on the skillet and cook until the outside is golden brown, the center is warm and the chocolate is melted, 3 to 4 minutes per side. (If you have to turn the heat down a bit to ensure that everything is cooked, without burning, do so. It will simply take a bit longer.)

Transfer to serving dishes. Top with the remaining strawberries and sprinkle with the confectioners' sugar. Enjoy!