Stuffed French Toast, Cast Iron
Brioche griddled in an egg batter, filled with sweetened milk powder cream, topped with cooked-down berries.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 104
- protein
- 12 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 35 min
- water
- 120 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Brioche | 6 slices | cut thick, 1 1/2 inch, day-old holds together better |
|---|---|---|
| Eggs | 4 | carried in a rigid egg case |
| Powdered whole milk | 1/3 cup | reconstituted, replaces the fresh milk |
| Sugar | 1/4 cup | |
| Powdered sugar | 2 tbsp | |
| Cinnamon | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | split between batter and berries |
| Vanilla extract | 1 1/4 tsp | in a small dropper bottle |
| Mascarpone | 3/4 cup | cooler only; cream cheese keeps better |
| Butter | 4 tbsp | unsalted |
| Dried strawberries | 1 cup | or fresh if the cooler has room |
| Sugar for the berries | 2 tbsp | |
| Lemon juice | 1 tsp | bottled |
| Dried mint | 1 tsp |
Method
- Put the dried strawberries in a small pot with 120 ml water, the 2 tbsp sugar, a pinch of salt, the lemon juice, and the mint. Bring it to a boil over the fire or stove.
- Drop the heat and let it simmer 10 to 15 minutes until it is thick and syrupy. Fish out the mint. Set the pot off the heat to cool.
- Whisk the mascarpone with the powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp vanilla, and 2 tbsp of milk made from the powder. Load it into a zip bag and cut a corner off.
- Cut a deep pocket into the side of each brioche slice. Do not cut through. Pipe the filling in.
- Beat the eggs with 1 cup of reconstituted milk, the 1/4 cup sugar, remaining salt, cinnamon, and the rest of the vanilla in a wide bowl or pot lid.
- Set the skillet or griddle over medium coals for five minutes. Melt butter as you go, a tablespoon per two slices.
- Dip each stuffed slice, both sides, a couple seconds only. Thick bread and a long soak means a raw center.
- Griddle three to four minutes a side until browned and firm in the middle. Spoon the berries over.
This is a car-camping breakfast, not a backpacking one. Mascarpone, butter, and eggs all need a cooler, and there is no honest way around that. What did change is the milk: powdered whole milk reconstituted in the pot does everything fresh milk does here and removes one more thing that can spoil in a warm cooler.
The strawberries are dried and simmered with water rather than fresh and quartered. Dried fruit already has the sugar concentrated, so the syrup thickens faster over an uneven campfire. Two things matter at the pan: cut the pocket without cutting through, and dip fast. Thick brioche soaked long turns to custard in the middle and will not set before the outside burns.
Packing
Batter dry goods (sugar, cinnamon, salt, milk powder) premixed in one jar at home. Eggs in a hard case, mascarpone and butter in the cooler, bread in a box so it does not get crushed. Dried berries and their sugar in one bag.
Variations
- Cream cheese instead of mascarpone survives a warm cooler better and tastes close enough.
- No cooler at all: skip the filling, use powdered eggs and powdered milk, and eat it as plain cinnamon toast with the berry syrup.
- Any dried fruit works for the topping. Blueberries and apricots both cook down fine.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/mascarpone-stuffed-french-toast-with-strawberries-and-mint