It’s my mother’s fault. She might be the reason why I think about my next meal soon after finishing my last. Why I like grocery shopping. Why I find deep satisfaction peering into a fully-stocked fridge.
If she isn’t to blame, then she at least planted the seed.
My brother and I were put to work in the kitchen peeling carrots and hard-boiled eggs, washing rice, folding dumplings — tasks safe for little hands. Our mom loves a good analysis and breaking down a recipe is good fun and we were the guinea pigs of her trials. Sound familiar?
Saturdays were dedicated to studying and together we would marathon-watch PBS cooking shows. Bear in mind, these were the days before the Food Network and cable channels dedicated to food. Mom took notes in her notebook as we watched, and especially good episodes were recorded to VHS. We enjoyed Justin Wilson’s bayou pronunciations, the behind-the-scenes look into fancy restaurants in ‘Great Chefs’ and the technique-filled episodes of Jacques Pépin.
Jacques Pépin is a marvelous teacher and continues to share his wealth of knowledge, including this absolutely genius recipe for French toast made from melted ice cream.
Jacques Pepin’s Ice Cream French Toast
Ingredients
- ½ C. vanilla ice cream, melted
- 2 slices sandwich bread
- butter for frying
- maple syrup
Instructions
- Scoop about 1/4 of a pint of ice cream onto a plate and place in the microwave for ~30 seconds or until melted
- Place one slice of bread into the melted ice cream. Turn the bread over and let it sit for 1-2 minutes to absorb the ice cream.
- Use the remaining ice cream and repeat for the second slice.
- Warm a frying pan on low heat and add 1 T. of butter. When the butter is melted add the ice cream soaked bread. I would recommend cooking the slices one at a time.
- Gently fry the bread, checking periodically with a spatula for doneness. You’re looking for a golden brown color. Flip the bread and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Take the french toast out of the pan and it may be plated on any leftover melted ice cream. Top with real maple syrup or powdered sugar. Serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition
Just gave this a shot, but with challah bread instead of sandwich bread. The flavor was rich and sweet, but not overpoweringly so, and the texture was perfect – lightly crispy on the outside with a smooth creamy interior.
The vanilla flavor is mild, I would say it was more of a hint of that vanilla ice cream, almost like if the french toast had shared a plate with soft, melty ice cream and picked up some of it that way. It wasn’t like eating a sundae or something. It had a nice sweetness to it without adding anything, but I found that a little drizzle of maple syrup added a nice extra punch of flavor (and I’m not a huge fan of maple syrup).
I’ve not tried this with the suggested bread, but I definitely think challah bread was the way to go. Challah french toast is on a whole other level, and this recipe was no exception.
All that said, the best part of this recipe is how E A S Y it is. Not to say that french toast is a difficult dish, but this recipe saves you several steps, including messing around with raw egg (if that bothers you). It can easily be modified and tweaked to add additional flavor by mixing some cinnamon or nutmeg into the melted ice cream, but is very good without any changes. The ten minute time estimate listed on the recipe is super accurate. 100 percent recoomend.
I wonder can you use others flavors of ice cream?
I have always loved eating ice cream and whenever I get a chance I never miss eating ice cream and your ice cream taste and recipe is really amazing I hope you will give us more delicious ice cream information in future.
Who knew?.
Does this work with egg free ice cream??
this is healthy and very sweet.I can try this