Author Notes
One of the many reasons I love the holidays is the variety of baked goods in all the bakeries around town, challah being one of my favorites. It's no secret that the eggy-malty bread makes amazing French toast. Treat the French toast like a grilled cheese with Swiss or Gruyère and top with maple-candied country ham and you've got yourself a winner for any holiday breakfast or brunch! Note: Country ham is a super-salty, cured ham from the southeast. If you don't have access to country ham, you can substitute bacon. To serve a crowd, simply double or triple the recipe. —Mary Catherine Tee
Test Kitchen Notes
The "monte carlo/cerdo" part came together well, the egg and cream wasn't too sweet and paired nicely with the Swiss cheese. My candied bacon (couldn't locate country ham) was a little chunky and there was too much brown sugar, which may have been user error due to a not clear enough recipe instruction. Overall I personally found it a little too sweet, although if it was served with a more savory side (sausage, or maybe an egg at breakfast) it would have worked a bit better. —Omeletta
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Ingredients
- For the Maple-Candied Country Ham:
-
1/2 pound
country ham chips or thick-cut bacon
-
1/4 cup
light brown sugar, packed
-
1/8 cup
high-quality maple syrup
- For the Challah French Toast Sandwich:
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8
large eggs
-
3/4 cup
heavy cream
-
1 teaspoon
cinnamon
-
1 teaspoon
vanilla
-
1 pinch
salt
-
2 tablespoons
salted butter
-
8
slices of challah, 3/4 inch thick
-
8
slices of high-quality Swiss cheese or 8 ounces shredded Gruyère
Directions
- For the Maple-Candied Country Ham:
-
Cut county ham chips into roughly 1 inch pieces. Cook over medium-high heat, flipping occasionally until the outside is browned but not burned. If using bacon, cut into one inch pieces and brown over medium heat, flipping occasionally until crisp and brown. Reduce heat to medium. Drain oil. Return pan to burner.
-
Add sugar and maple syrup, stirring the meat to coat. Let cook over medium heat, stirring every few seconds or so, until the sugar-maple mixture caramelizes and thickens, about 3 minutes, depending upon your 'char' preference. Once maple-meat mixture is browned and gooey, set aside.
- For the Challah French Toast Sandwich:
-
In a shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt until well-combined. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter, reserving the other tablespoon.
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If challah is over 6 inches in length, cut each piece in half (I found long pieces tough to work with). Working in batches, drop in 4 pieces of challah to egg mixture. Let sit for 1-2 minutes. Turn and let sit for 1-2 minutes. Place the bread in the heated skillet and cook until the bottom is browned and egg cooked through, about 3 minutes. turn. Add 1 slice of Swiss cheese or 1 ounce of shredded Gruyère to the cooked top of each piece of bread. The cheese will melt while the other side cooks, for about 3 minutes.
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Melt remaining butter and repeat previous step with remaining challah.
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When ready to serve, dust sandwich with powdered sugar or cinnamon (optional). Top with the candied ham/bacon. Serve with warmed maple syrup.
I’m an old soul. My favorite Saturday morning activity is watching birds on the feeder while drinking strong, black coffee out of my favorite hand-thrown mug. My favorite place to kill time is in antique stores. The less organized the better. I like full-bodied red wines and bitter IPAs. I live for feeling the warmth of sunshine and hearing the stillness of freshly fallen snow. I can thank my stint in Alaska for that. I have salt water in my veins, having grown up in Eastern NC, and (shhh…don’t tell any of my Mainer friends this about me) I prefer blue crab over lobster.
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