Cashew Cream and Jam Stuffed French Toast

VEGANS!! I see you, I hear you and I’m answering your calls. Going vegan means not eating, wearing, buying or otherwise consuming things that contains animal products. This includes meat, eggs, honey, Jell-O and loads of other stuff. 

Cashew cream, ready for stuffing

Basically, veganism is sustainable because farm animals are supes bad for the planet. Personally, I’m not up for full veganism, but I have hecka respect for vegans and I am up for this bomb French toast. 

This was semi-inspired by the famed ricotta toast from Sqirl in LA even though I’ve never actually eaten that dish, nor have I been to LA. Rather, I armchair traveled to eat this magical toast via this Buzzfeed video. 

As soon as I saw that toast I knew I had to recreate it, but I also knew that the bread I had on hand was too stale to do the dish justice. When life gives you stale bread, you make French toast. And thus, this recipe was born.

Let me know what you think of this recipe and don’t forget the sus’ tips below!

makes: 6 generous pieces of stuffed French toast

serves: 6 people

time: 2 ½ hours

Ingredients

Cashew cream

(Adapted from Sophie of Wholehearted Eats of Food52)

• 2 cups raw cashews, soaked in water for 2-6 hours

• 1 cup water

• Juice from ½ lemon

• ½ tsp salt

Black Raspberry Jam

• 2 cups black raspberries

• 2 cups red raspberries

• Juice from ½ lemon

• 1 ½ cups sugar of choice (I used coconut sugar)

French toast

(Adapted from Minimalist Baker’s Basic Vegan French Toast)

• 1 loaf of day-old bread, cut into 1 ½-2 inch slices

• 1 ½ tablespoons chia seeds

• 1 cup milk of choice (obvi not animal milk if you want it vegan)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• Dash of cinnamon

Steps

Cashew Cream

1. After the cashews have soaked, drain the water and rinse them off. You can dump this water down the drain or add it to your compost if it needs some moisture.

2. Chuck all your ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy, pausing several times to scrape down the sides if needed. Place in a container and set aside in the fridge. Easy peasy!

Jam Jam

1. Place your berries and sugar into a medium saucepan over medium high heat and stir, mashing the berries with you spoon. Don’t stop stirring- if your dogs ask to go outside they’ll just have to wait a minute (or you can take the pot off the stove) because this can burn easily.

2. Continue stirring until it starts to bubble, thicken and spit hot lava at you. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice.

3. Let it cool before refrigerating. Since this jam isn’t proper canned, you’ll want to store it in the fridge and use it within a week or two.

French It

1. Combine all ingredients (minus the bread of course) in a wide, shallow bowl. If you don’t particularly like chia seeds, you can grind them up before adding them. Let this mixture sit for a few minutes to thicken.

2. Meanwhile, stuff your bread! Cut a slit in the top of your bread. Make this pocket as big as your can without cutting the bread in half. Spread about two tablespoons of cashew cream and 1-2 tablespoons of jam inside your bread pocket.

3. Put an oiled saucepan over medium heat. Place your stuffed bread into the milk mixture and let soak for a few seconds, then flip to soak the other side.

4. Take your soggy bread and plop it in the hot pan. Let cook for 2-3 minutes before flipping and letting cook on the other side. Serve with maple syrup or more cream and jam if you want to feel like a millionaire.

Sustainability tips

• Cashews: Cashews are pretty tricky because their processing is associated with supes bad working conditions and it’s also hard to find Fair Trade versions. If you can find fair trade, definitely take advantage of that.

• Lemon: Try to go as local and seasonal as possible for these. Lemon season normally occurs during the cooler months but some varieties are available year round, so be on the lookout. If you don’t have a lemon on hand, replacing it with apple cider vinegar would work well.

• Raspberries: Make sure these are in season! Preferably, grow them yourself or buy them from a local farmer.

• Chia seeds: Fair Trade chia seeds are not that hard to find and they’re definitely worth it!