Make Pistachio Peach French Toast from Buttermilk White Bread.

It's the best, easiest French toast ever! 

It's a millionaire's breakfast in a moment. If you can make a sandwich, you can make this.

It's a light cream cheese and sweet peach filling between slices of soft homemade bread, crusted with chopped pistachios. 

Like other French toast, it's soaked in an egg wash and then fried on the griddle. The egg wash makes it custard-like.

It's quick but delightful.

And look what else you can make! 

• You'll find a cherry version, a cream cheese chocolate version, and an apricot almond version, plus tips for others 
• Plus, you'll find a make-ahead version that works for the weekend. Spend time with the kids or guests, not in the kitchen.

You'll delight your family or friends. They'll ask, "How did you do that?"

How to Make Pistachio Peach French Toast and Cousins

This is easy and delightful, a French toast made with cream cheese and a fruit filling with a nutty outer coating. It's a delightful combination of textures.  The bread, soaked in egg, creates a third texture: a custard.

For the French toast:

• Buttermilk White Bread or equal
• Eggs
• Milk
• a pinch of salt
• nuts, chopped to 1/4 inch

For the Filling

• Cream cheese
• Sugar
• Peach jam or peach pastry filling

Directions

Making stuffed French toast is simply making a sandwich that you soak in an egg wash.

You can fill the sandwich with anything you like. In this case, either jam or a pastry filling is whipped into softened cream cheese, sweetened with just a little granulated sugar.

You want the egg to soak into the bread, then turn it and let it soak from the other side. The trick is the timing. If you turn it too quickly, the egg won't soak into the bread. 

Let it soak for two or three minutes before you turn it. Use a broad spatula to support the bread when you turn it.

Cook the sandwich until the egg sets up. The egg-soaked bread cooks like a custard or a bread pudding. 

And the Cousins!

Choose a quality jam or a pastry filling.  Pastry filling comes in 2-pound packs. Because they are larger, they cost more per container but less per ounce.

Instead of pistachios, use pecans, peanuts, hazelnuts, or chopped almonds. Instead of peaches, try strawberry, apricot, or apple. Use Chubby Cherry or Harvest Peach Cobbler Jam, and you'll get a blend of cobbler and baked French toast.

 Dennis Weaver

How to Assemble it Ahead 

Load it like this, and you can make it up to 5 days ahead, then stick it in the oven when you get up.

Bake it at 350 degrees unto the eggs are cooked, about 25 minutes.  The center should have a slight wobble, or a knife inserted near the center should come out clean. If you have a kitchen thermometer, the toast should be at 170 to 175 degrees.

Spend the time with your family, not in the kitchen.

Here are some other suggestions to consider:

• Cream Cheese Apple Pie with a Graham Cracker Crumb Crust. Use apple filling instead of peach in your cream cheese filling. Put the crumbs into the crust just before cooking the French toast.
• Apricot Cream Cheese with Chopped Almond on the crust. Use apricot pastry filling in your cream cheese filling. It would look like the pistachio peach French toast.
• Cherry Chocolate with Chopped Pecans. You can use a good quality cocoa for the chocolate. Add it to the cream cheese filling. You may want to add sugar to sweeten and balance the cocoa.

This is a cherry-and-pecan version, with lots of pecans.