Cherries: Pit the cherries, halve them then combine in a small baking dish with 1 tbsp maple syrup. To pit the cherries you can push out the stone with a metal straw, a cherry pitter or even a thin pastry tip. Place in the oven at 190C/375F for around 25mins, or until sticky and slightly wilted (you want them still a little juicy). Keep an eye on them as the syrup can burn fast, if this starts to happen just lower the heat slightly.
Chocolate: Place chocolate in a zip-lock bag and pound with a rolling pin until it breaks into small shards. Alternatively you can just chop with a knife (not quite as fun!).
Prepare Fresh Toast: In a large shallow dish, whisk together milk, eggs, vanilla and cinnamon. Melt 1 tbsp butter in a non-stick pan over medium heat.
Fry Sandwiches: Take a piece of brioche and give both sides a quick dunk in the egg mixture, then place in the pan. Repeat with a second slice. Leave to fry for around 2-3mins or until golden, then flip the first slice over. Working fairly quickly, add chocolate and roasted cherries. Place the second slice on top (uncooked side facing up). Leave to fry for a couple of mins until the bottom slice is golden, then carefully flip the sandwich and fry for another couple of mins and the chocolate is seeping out. Repeat with remaining two sandwiches, adding more butter in between batches.
Serve: Dust over powdered sugar then serve up and enjoy!
Quick Demo
Notes
a) Brioche - This is by far the best bread to make French toast with, especially because we're doing a sweet take here. You preferably want it a couple of days old, just because slightly dryer bread is more sturdy when making French toast. If the bread is fresh, you can dry it out in the oven for 4-5mins at 180C/350F or until it JUST begins to pick up colour and is very lightly toasted. Also just make sure they're very thick slices as they wilt down quite a lot as you fry the sandwich. If you're in the UK I've found brioche loaves in both Sainsbury's and Waitrose.b) Chocolate - Dark chocolate works best to balance out the sweetness of the cherries. I find 70% hits the sweet spot. You can use milk chocolate (or even white chocolate), the sandwich will obviously just be a lot sweeter! c) Timings - This comes together pretty quickly in the pan, so try and work fairly quickly when you add the chocolate/cherries. The chocolate melts almost instantly when it hits the hot French toast, so just focus on toasting both sides of the sandwich until golden. I tend to work in 3 batches, but if you've got a large enough pan you can make 2 sandwiches and then 1.d) Calories - per sandwich:
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
*Nutrition is based on the absence of salt unless stated as a measurement in the ingredients. Cost is worked out based on ingredients bought from UK supermarkets, then divided by the number of servings. In both instances these values are just for guidance. Please check out my FAQ Page for more info.