Challah French Toast with Chocolate

As a kid, it wasn't uncommon for my mom to make us Challah french toast on Saturday mornings. We almost always had leftover Challah from Friday night, and french toast was one of the best way to use it up, especially in the eyes of a little kid. This weekend, I decided to make this french toast again, after not having had any variety of french toast in years.

My little twist to traditional french toast is that I cut slits into the side of the bread and add some chocolate squares that end up melting on the inside. As you can imagine, this is amazing. It's not something I eat often since it really is not the healthiest way to start your day, but seeing as how it's the weekend and it's still mysteriously cold in Los Angeles, chocolate stuffed french toast sounded perfect. If you're really not into having chocolate in the morning, just skip this step. You can spice up the otherwise standard challah french toast with different flavors in the egg and milk combination (orange zest, vanilla, etc...) or by adding some fruit sauce or compote on the finished french toast.

If you cannot find challah, you can also use brioche. I used a mini challah that had been partially eaten (that's what we had leftover) and it gave me about 10 small pieces of french toast. With the mini challah, I was only able to stuff chocolate in 1 side, but with a larger challah or brioche, you can stuff all 4 sides or just 2 sides.

Serves 2
Prep time: 3 minutes
Cooking time: 8 to 10 minutes

1 small challah
5 squares of Lindt milk chocolate, of other good quality chocolate, broken in half (if squares are smaller, keep them whole)
1 large egg
2 1/2 tablespoons of milk
1 tablespoon butter
cinnamon sugar, to serve (3 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon)

Cut challah into 3/4" slices. Make 1 slit, about an inch deep in the middle of the base of each slice (see photo below). Stuff with one piece of chocolate. If your challah is larger, stuff chocolate on all side of the bread. In a bowl, whisk together egg and milk. Preheat a griddle on medium-low heat. Dunk each stuffed piece of challah in the egg mixture and let it soak for a minute. Place challah the griddle for about 4 or 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown and chocolate has melted.* To serve, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture. Eat while warm and chocolate is melted.

*Thicker chocolate squares will need more time. If using a pan, turn the heat to low and cover for up to 10 minutes to make sure the chocolate melts.

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