I once made this cheesecake on Daytime ... in under 4 minutes!

Now, that being said,  I don't recommend making this in 4 minutes ... you actually need about 45 minutes to put it all together and another hour to bake it.  But, if you've never made cheesecake before, don't be intimidated.  It's actually quite easy.  The hardest part is not eating all the creamy pumpkin-y batter right out of the bowl!

Chef Jim from the Mount Dora Historic Inn gave me a few extra little tips that gives it a little extra panache.  Follow along and I'll make you the star of your Thanksgiving dinner table.

Here's what you'll need ...

As long as you have the right pan, every thing else is a piece of cake.  Pun intended.  If you've made cheesecake before, skip down a bit. If this is your first time, then let me introduce you to the springform pan.

This nifty little inexpensive  dishware can be found at most large-we-sell-anything-and-everything-superstores.  You might also be able to find it at your local grocer.  "What exactly does it do?" you ask.  Well, it has a nice little hinge on the side that, when opened, releases the sides of the pan allowing you to display your cheesecake as a nice perfect whole cake rather than trying to dig it out with spoon. 

(Not that I've ever done that ... ah em.)

Here are the rest of the bits you'll need (full recipe and measurements at the end of the post.)

Some cream cheese, softened to room temperature.  And I do mean room temperature.  If you have a sunny little spot on your counter top, let it sit there awhile and catch some rays while you pull everything else out of your cabinets and refrigerator.  It may take a good hour for it to warm up.

warmed up room temperature cream cheese = easy + creamy cheesecake

cold cream cheese = chunky cheesecake + frustrated baker with sticky bits clogging up their mixer

Catchin my math here?

In addition to cream cheese, you'll need graham cracker crumbs, ginger snaps, butter, eggs, pumpkin pie spices, brown sugar, sour cream, a pinch of salt, and some BOURBON.  (You have to say that last ingredient with your best Southern accent, as if you've taken a swig or two) BOOOOOURBON.

*In my best fake Southern accent*

"Did I say BOURBON?  Why, yes, yes I did say Bourbon.  Pass me some whisk-eh!"

Cooking is always fun in my kitchen.  And while I may laugh and play with my fake Southern accent (as if you could hear me?) I do have a confession.  I don't drink whiskey.  I'm a wine girl.  So walking out of the liquor store with a brown paper bag wrapped around this teeny bottle had me blushing in the same way I did when I was 13 years old and running to the cash register hoping no one saw me buy my first box of "monthly supplies."  Girls, you understand.  Guys, you'll never know, so don't ask.

So, yes, I was blushing and looking over my shoulder to see if any of my small town neighbors would catch me buying whiskey before noon and start spreading rumors that I'd become a "drinkah."

But inviting Jack Daniels into my home for some Thanksgiving baking was the BEST decision I've made this week.  Just WAIT until you taste it.

Now that my confession is over with ... onto the good stuff!  Let's start with the crust, shall we?

For cheesecake, it's really easy.  Just 3 simple ingredients.  Graham cracker crumbs, pinch of brown sugar, and some butter.  Chef Jim suggested a little bonus ingredient. Ginger Snaps.  You can crumble up handful of these spicy cookies in your little food processor.

If you don't have a food processor, you can throw 5 or 6 cookies into a large zip lock bag and crush them with a wooden spoon to make some crumbs.

Now, I have to warn you, if you decide to go this route I will suggest you put the whiskey away.  Unless you want your family to find you in your kitchen with a bottle of bourbon smacking cookies with a spoon.

Just sayin.

Mix them all together ...

Thenn press the crumb mixture firmly into the bottom of the springform pan and up to the sides.  Pop it into the oven at 350 for 10 minutes and then let it cool on a wire rack while you mix the filling.

Step 1 is done.  See, wasn't that easy?

Now on to the fall ingredient that makes this cheesecake extra special ... pumpkin.

Pumkin actually holds A LOT of water.  So, if you want to keep your cheesecake firm, you'll need to soak up some of that water.  Chef Jim gave me a little tip for how to do that ... spreading it out on paper towels.  Simple white un-printed plain ole paper towels.  Fancy, huh?

Spread the pumpkin out onto a layer of 6 to 8 paper towels using a spatula.

When you've got it spread over the paper towel like icing, add another couple of layers of paper towels and press softly to absorb more of the moisture.

Next you want to mix or "cream" together the cream cheese and brown sugar.  Then add the pumpkin and mix some more.

Add your eggs, vanilla and spices and you've got your filling!

When it's all mixed together, scrape the edge of the bowl with a spatula ...

don't lick it ...

not yet anyway... and blend some more until it's nice and creamy.

Then, spread it out onto your baked graham and ginger crust.

Then bake at 350  for 45 minutes to an hour.

TIP! In other cheesecake recipes I've done, it usually calls for a "water bath" in which you wrap the bottom of the springform pan with tinfoil and place the cheesecake in a pan half filled with water while baking.  This is a little precarious because it's heavy ... and it's extremely hot water.

The purpose of the water bath is to keep the cheesecake moist and prevent it from getting dried out around the edges.

Well Jim said I could just stick a pan or bowl in separately and have the same effect.  He does this with his cheesecake as well as his souffles.  Well hallelluah!  I (we) don't have to fret over pulling a gigantic heavy hot "water bath" out of the oven.  Just let the pan/bowl full of water cool before removing.  Brilliant!  Wish I would have known this little short cut last time I made cheesecake.

Step 2 is done.  See ... easy!

Now the final step.

BOOOOURBON.

After the cheesecake is done baking, you'll need to let it cool for an hour and then place it in the refrigerator to chill (overnight or for a couple of hours)

These 3 ingredients will be your topping. A container of sour cream. (Why did I go "lite" on the sour cream, I don't know. Nothing else about his recipe is "lite" and the 20 calories I saved in using this one didn't make a lick of difference I'm sure. Thanksgiving is not for diets, after all. That's what New Years Resolutions are for.)

Add to the sour cream about 2 to 3 cap fulls of Bourbon and a whole lot of shug-ah.

Mix.

Taste.

Mmm.

Check out the Daytime Video here ... [video].

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Bourbon Cream

(from the Mount Dora Historic Inn)

CRUST

Mix together the following ingredients:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cups finely ground ginger snaps

1 tablespoon brown sugar

4 - 5 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

PREHEAT oven to 350°F.

Press crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.  Bake for 6 to 8 minutes (do not allow to brown). Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.

CHEESECAKE FILLING

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened and at room temperature

3 large eggs

1 can pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

Note for Pumpkin:  Pumpkin holds a lot of water, so in order to make the cheesecake more firm you need to drain some of that water. One quick and easy way to do this is to layer 6 or 7 plain white paper towels and spread the pumpkin over the paper towels.  Next, layer 6 to 7 towels on  top of that and press firmly.  Once the paper towels are soaked through, remove top layer of towels and scrape pumpkin off the bottom layer with a spatula.

Filling: After draining the pumpkin, beat together cream cheese and sugar in large mixer bowl until fluffy. Beat in eggs and pumpkin then add spices, salt and vanilla.

Pour your filling on top of crust.  In order to keep the oven "moist" fill a separate cake pan or bowl half way with water and place on the bottom rack of your oven.  BAKE for 55 to 60 minutes or until edge is set.  Let cool for 1 hour, then cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

BOURBON CREAM TOPPING

1 container (16 oz.) sour cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon bourbon (can also use vanilla in place of bourbon)

Beat together sour cream and sugar.  Then add teaspoon of bourbon.  Spread over top of cheesecake or serve on the side.

###

So, in my last little ode to fall, I went on a little day trip with fellow Innkeepers Jim & Ana with the Mount Dora Historic Inn to a local corn maze.  A maize maze.  I thought getting lost in 6 acres of corn would be a great way to get outdoors, enjoy the weather and walk off all the tasty holiday indulgences.

It sounded quite easy, like kids play that we adults were just entertaining ourselves with.  Perhaps the gps in my car has made me too confident in my wayfinding skills, but that all changed when the stalks were 2 feet over our heads and every corner and twisted turn looked the same.  We really did get lost.  Good conversation with friends was the only thing that kept me from screaming out in a claustrophobic fit.  We got to talking about jobs we had before innkeeping and becoming serial entrepreneurs.  One of my first jobs was working in marketing for an agricultural association, so being ear-deep in corn (hehe) shouldn't have been so out of place for me.  One of the stories I shared with them was the time I was introduced to red-eye gravy.  It's a country thing, I guess.  Bacon grease and black coffee.  To be honest, I never actually tasted it.  I love bacon ... on my plate.  I love coffee ... in my cup.  But bacon and coffee mixed together.  Ew. I wrinkle my nose at the thought.  Perhaps I should be more open minded.  It is breakfast, after all.

Jim took this as a "challenge."  Picture an Einstein-mad-scientist-type, crazy hair, tongue sticking out with a wild look in his eye, groovy 70's music blaring, things bubbling, steam rising.   Now, picture that scientist in a chef's coat  and replace the lab with a kitchen ... except with clean cut hair ... but his tongue still sticking out.  Yeah.  That's Jim.  He loves experimenting a creating new things.  Especially when it comes to baking.  And I had just given him an idea.  A bacon and coffee infused dish.  Since were were lost in the middle of a corn field, I threw in the added ingredient of corn.  Poof.  Bam.  The idea was born.  A savory corn cupcake with bacon and coffee.  I didn't know whether to be intrigued or grossed out.

My first experience with a savory cupcake was in Oklahoma.  Yup.  Not some culinary capitol like Chicago or NYC.  The heartland.  Oklahoma.  So the fact that this idea was born in the middle of a farm shouldn't have surprised me at all.

The cupcake place we found in Oklahoma City was an adorable little cottage with the most perfect little cupcakes I'd ever seen.  They had red velvet, chocolate and classic vanilla.  They also had green tea cupcakes and a savory egg-y breakfast cupcake.  They were delish, so I unwrinkled my nose and accepted the bacon-coffee-corn-cupcake challenge.  It was a bake-off between me and Jim.  And I have to tell you in advance, his cupcake won!

The stars of this show ...

Do you hear the StarWars-like music?  Duuuuuun ... Dooooooon ... Da-DOOOOOON.  Bom Bom Bom Bom Bom Bom.

Corn ... check.

Bacon ... check.

Coffee ... hmm ...

Recently Marx Foods offered to send some free salt samples to food bloggers.  I sent in my info and got a little box of all kind of chef-y sounding flavors of salt.  Things I would never in a million years find at my local grocer.  My homesick NYC neighbors squealed in delight  that they could order gourmet-to-go direct to their doorstep as flavorful reminders of home.  I was just excited and inspired to try something new.

One of those flavors happened to be ... espresso salt.

Using espresso salt in a breakfast recipe may be uncreative or cliche ... but I'm a breakfast girl so that's the first place my mind will go.  I think my neighbors used it to season their steaks.  Yum.

On with the bake-off.

First, REAL bacon bits ...

Then, fresh white sweet corn from our local farm.  Did you know that corn has one "silk" hair per kernel?

Yup.  I learned that in the corn maze.

Also learned that it kinda looks like blonde barbie doll hair.

Or nose hair.  See ... this is why I'm no chef-y.  I get distracted and play with my food.

My mom says when I was a kid I used to call this "corn on the NOB" instead of "corn on the cob" because of the little corn nobs stuck into the ends.  Again ... playing with my food.

Hmm. Perhaps I should have pulled out a bigger cutting board?  Ya think?  Naaaah ... would of spoiled the fun.

This little bow saw knife made me feel like I was playing a violin ... again ... playing with my food.

CORN!

Fresh.  Uncooked.  Do not try to adjust the color on your screen.  This is not yellow corn ... but sweet white corn.

Mix together the dry ingredients (full list and recipe at the bottom of the post)

Now... I have a question for you.

I looked it up.

My photographer friend Jim looked it up.

We Googled it.

Still ... no answer ... on the history ... of what in the heck is a "Clabber" girl ... as opposed to just the name of some baking powder.  Looks like there'd be some historical story to it, but we couldn't find it.  If you know ... PLEASE TELL US!

Add your wet ingredients to a separate bowl ...

Oops.  I lied.  One "dry" ingredient goes into this "wet" bowl.  Sugar.

Some eggs.  Some Buttah'.  Some sour cream.  Jim added a lot of creamy things to this recipe.  Gives it a moist cake texture.  No classic cornbread here.

A spoonful of bacon grease.

A cap full of vanilla.

Blend.

Pour into dry ingredient bowl and "mix" ... not too much ... or they'll be tough.

Add the corn last.

Dollop into your cupcake/muffin pan.  This is where I went wrong.  I always use paper cups for easy servings and even easier clean up.  But these suckers stick to the paper like glue, so I would grease your cupcake/muffin tin and skip the paper.

Sprinkle with bacon bits and espresso salt to taste.  A sort of "red eye gravy" topping.  They're both SALTY SALTY SALTY ... but it contrasts nicely with the sweet and creamy cupcake.

Then bake!

This is also where Jim's cupcakes beat mine.  He made 6 big poofy ones.  Like a cupcake should look.  I made 12 ... so they came out kinda teeny.

And voila.  A savory corn red eye gravy cupcake.  It was EXCELLENT hot with eggs over easy.  However, I didn't like it cold.  This is not a cupcake to keep in a pastry display for everyone to grab on the go at room temperature.  This is an eat it hot and fresh for breakfast in the morning kind of meal.  A little weird, I do admit.  But it was fun to make!

Savory Corn Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup cake flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

8 strips bacon, cooked, crisp & crumbled

1 1/2 cup corn

1 cup buttermilk

8 oz sour cream

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 stick of butter, melted

2 large eggs

1/4 lemon, juiced

1 tbsp bacon grease

1 capful vanilla extract

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 360 degrees.  Yes, that is 360, not 350.  Grease muffin pan.

2) Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt

3) Cream together eggs & sugar, then add bacon grease, butter, buttermilk, softened cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla and lemon juice.

4) Add to flour mixture along with corn and fold together until well blended.  Do not whisk.  Do not overmix.

5) Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins and sprinkle with espresso salt and crumbled bacon.

6) Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

7) Serve with eggs and enjoy!

###

]]> http://innthekitchen.com/wp/savory-corn-cupcakes/feed/ 5 http://innthekitchen.com/wp/breakfast-pizza/ http://innthekitchen.com/wp/breakfast-pizza/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:30:11 +0000 admin http://innthekitchen.com/wp/?p=1233 If you need something to wake you out of a sugar induced coma from Halloween ... this will do just the trick.  Although, I can't say that it will help your waistline any more than Halloween candy!

It's the Hisega Lodge Breakfast Pizza.  Located in Rapid City, South Dakota, innkeepers Carol and Ken serve this to guests before they embark on outdoor adventures in the Black Hills.  But this is, not your typical pizza by any stretch.

While I must confess that ... yes ... I have ... at some point ... had cold pizza for breakfast.  In college.

And it was ... Yuk.

So the thought of having pizza for breakfast instantly brought back that memory and made my upper lip curl up like Elvis.

BUT

This is a hot and delightfully tasty good-morning version!  It's everything that is great about breakfast on a round of dough with a little added Mediterranean flavor.

And it is ... YUM!

Let's get to it, shall we?

Now, there are quite a few ingredients to this puppy ... so if you're the type of cook that usually pulls things out of the refrigerator or cabinets as you need them, I would recommend getting everything out on the counter first before beginning.  (I have the full list of ingredients and recipe at the end of the post.) You'll also want to take a quick look at how to roast red peppers.  It's really easy, but I recommend doing it the night before you make the pizza for breakfast in order to save some time.

Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees and place your cream cheese in a bowl next to the oven so that the heat coming from it will start to soften it up.  Ideally you want it to be around room temperature so it spreads nicely.

The Hisega Lodge makes their own dough with biscuit mix, which is another great breakfast staple to add to the mix.  But just for fun,  I chose to take the opportunity to use dough from our local pizzeria, PizzAmore.

When this clever little idea popped in my brain, I asked my boyfriend if he could pick up a "wad" of pizza dough from PizzAmora on his way home.  He stared at me blankly for a minute and then asked, "exactly what unit of measurement is a 'wad'?"  Ha!  That's where all the trouble and fun began.

Okay, I was having a "ball" (get it? a ball!  Buwahahaha) playing with pizza dough.  This picture in particular made me giggle since it looked like I was holding it in my mouth ... though I had just tossed it in the air.

"Look ma, no hands!"

You can see the wild gleam in my eye from the fun that Iwas having.  I did say this was the "grown up" version of pizza for breakfast, right?   Oops!

Anyway, you want to mix a little flour and cornmeal for your surface (and your fingers) to prevent sticking.  I probably have WAY too much there.  You can use a little less.

Pizza dough is one of those things that just doesn't want stay where you put it.  If there is one little trick I learned from watching Jessie at PizzAmore, it's that you've got to let gravity help you stretch the dough.

Pick it up by one side ... let it start to droop .. then start moving it quickly between your hands like you are moving a wheel.

After it is about the size you want it, place it on your pizza pan or stone.

Even after all that stretching ... it still wants to shrink back to it's original ball like a tight pair of spandex!

Jessie has another trick for this that he calls "spanking the dough"

Eh ehm.

Well.  You could read into that if you wanted to ... but I'll tell you that I saw him try this at PizzAmore and it more like smacking it between your hands.

I'm digging myself into a hole here, aren't I?

Anyway, he then does the whole "hand tossed spin" thing with the dough above his head.  Since the dough would be mid air for a couple of seconds ... and I don't trust myself as a pizza dough spanker/smacker/twirler/etc  ... I'm going to make sure it stays on the table where I can make sure it has a good chance at becoming breakfast instead of my dog's treat.  And believe me, she's right by my feet ready and waiting ...

On to the toppings.  Make sure your cream cheese is smooth and soft.  Almost like frosting so that it's easy to spread.

Spread it over the dough ...

Oh, and PS ... that is a fairly new baking stone that has only had a couple of uses.  It's not "dirty" ... just needs a total bath in oil and some curing.

Okay. Now that that is clarified.  Add your hashbrowns and then sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan.  The recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups of hashbrowns ... but I think my pizza crust is a little smaller than what they make so I didn't need quite as much.

Next, chop up some pre-cooked bacon and green onions and spread those on top of the cheese and hashbrowns.

Slice up some artichoke heats ...

Mmm ... starting to look YUM!

Next, layer on your roasted red peppers and sprinkle on more cheese.

Add some capers and pop it into the oven for 15 minutes while you prepare your eggs.

Now THIS was a neat flavor that I'll have to add to other recipes.

White pepper.

It's a little more mild then regular black pepper, but then again it packs a little more heat.  Neat-o.

Add a 1/4 tsp of white pepper and 3 large eggs to a mixing bowl and whisk together.

Take the pizza out of the oven and SLOWLY pour the scrambled eggs on top.  You want them to fill into every open nook and cranny.  If you pour fast ... they'll shimmy off the top of the other ingredients and ooze over the edge.

Bake for another 20 minutes until the eggs are solid.  A great tip that the Hisega Lodge added was to then slice the pizza and add back to the oven for an additional 5 minutes.  It's definitely a "deep dish" style pizza,  so the extra 5 minutes helps it cook through.

You may even need a bigger pizza cutter!  I know I did!

I had forgotten all about the cream cheese we spread first on the crust ... until I took a bite.  Woooooow.

The cream cheese with the bacon and eggs and salty capers is mouth watering.  In fact, I'd say the white pepper and the cream cheese are the two "secret" ingredients that make this recipe pop.

Are you an Innkeeper?  Do you have a favorite breakfast recipe you'd like to share?  Email it to InnTheKitchen@gmail.com and we'll test it in our kitchen and post it here on www.InnTheKitchen.com

Hisega Lodge Breakfast Pizza

6-8 servings

Ingredients

2 cups biscuit mix

1/2 cup water

8 oz cream cheese, softened

6 green onions, finely sliced

6 canned, quartered artichokes

6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped

1/2 cup roasted red peppers, cut in strips

1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

2 1/2 cups frozen hashbrowns

1 1/2 tbsp capers

1/2 (additional) cup mozzarella

14 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 eggs, whisked with 1 tbsp water and 1/2 tsp white pepper.

Directions

In a bowl, combine the biscuit mix and water and stir 20 strokes. Turn onto a floured surface
and knead 10 times. Roll into circle and put into a 12-inch pizza pan. OR roll into a rectangle
approximately 14-inch X 10-inches and place on the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a
13X9 inch baking dish.

Spread the softened cream cheese evenly over the dough. Place the hashbrowns over the
cream cheese and follow with 1 1/2 cups mozzarella and the parmesan cheese. Sprinkle the
bacon, onions, and artichokes over that and arrange the red pepper strips over all. Sprinkle the
1/2 cup additional mozzarella over all and sprinkle the capers over that.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Bake pizza in middle of oven for 15 minutes and then pour the
egg mixture carefully over the pizza. Bake another 20 minutes until crust is golden brown and
the eggs are just solid. I cut the pieces when the pizza is almost done and then put it back in
the oven for 5 minutes to finish baking. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Serve pizza with
fresh tomato and spinach.

###

I have to confess ... I was a little confused about who "Penny" was and I kept adding an extra syllable to the end of their name as in "Farthing-ton."  I've since been enlightened.  Take a look here at the video.

Marie (not Penny), gave me a fantastic recipe for a Berry French Toast.  I love breakfast made in a ramekin since you end up with nice little individual servings of goodness ... and ... if you have extra you can just put a lid on it or cover in saran wrap, stick it in the refrigerator and save it for later.

Here's what you'll need!  Simple ingredients ... yum-mee flavor.  I used some fresh raspberries and also some froze mixed berries since berries are not in season at the moment ... I had to elbow a few people at the grocery store to even get my hands on a pint of raspberries!

I could actually just take the bread, cheese and raspberries and go have a picnic!

When we visited Paris, everyone had a baguette in hand, under arm, or in a basket.  It was like, if you didn't have one you were missing out!  That memory pops up every time I slice into "French" bread.

My large cutting board was in the sink, dirty, and my no-slip cutting board was in the dishwasher ... also dirty!  So, I used my simple el cheapo cutting board and placed a dish towel underneath to prevent sliding.  It also came in handy for cleaning up the crumbs afterward!

You'll need four slices, and you want them to be in small bite sized bits.  The quickest way to do that is to cut it in half ... then flip one side over so you have the crusts facing the same way.  That makes it easier to slice through.

Also slice up some cream cheese.  Careful ... it's sticky!

After you have the bread and cheese chopped and ready to go, layer them into the ramekins. Bread first, then berries, then cheese, then more bread.  Cause, ya know, you can never have enough bread!

Mix together 3/4 cup of milk, 3 tsp of maple syrup and 2 eggs.

Pour the egg mixture on top of the layered bread, cream cheese and berries.  Cover and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator.

The next morning, bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes.

I think I followed directions pretty well all except for one ...

... greasing the ramekins!!!  AAAAAARRRRGGGH!

Since I made a crappy move by forgetting to grease my ramekin, it made me think of a friend of mine's son who had a great phrase for making a turd.  And that was ...

Taaaah Daaaaah!

Well, it might not look pretty, but it tasted GREAT!

Good thing I had a few more to spare.  We'll just keep them in the bowl, shall we?

A little dash of some berry sauce ...

(I had this sauce on hand. Marie at Penny Farthing has a couple ingredients listed below to make some sauce from scratch)

... and now we've got some good looking AND great tasting Berry French Toast.

Here's the whole recipe.  Enjoy!

Berry French Toast

from Penny Farthing Inn

Ingredients

4 slices of French bread cut in 1/2 inch cubes

3/4 cup raspberries or blueberries

2 ounces of cream cheese cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

3 tbsp maple syrup

(Sauce)

2 tbsp raspberry preserve

1 cup maple syrup

Directions

(prepare night before)

1) Grease two ramekins and line with half the bread cubes

2) Cover with raspberries or blueberries (or both!), top with cream cheese and cover with remaining bread.

3) Beat together eggs, milk & 3 tablespoons of maple syrup.

4) Pour egg mixture over bread/cream cheese/berry filled ramekings and place in the fridge over night.

5) In the morning, bake at 350 for 25 to 35 minutes.

6) Cut round the edge of the ramekin and turn the French toast over onto a plate.  Cover with sauce and serve!

###