It’s state night again. Time to get out the United States puzzle for Miss A. She loves puzzles. Before making her selection, she first took the puzzle apart. Then put it back together. Then took it apart, asked me to put it back together and then pointed to the big purple state in the Pacific Northwest, Washington.
Washington is known for lots of fresh produce and seafood – apples, potatoes, berries, and salmon. Given the time of year, we’re going to focus on apples, the McIntosh to be precise. We came across this recipe in our most recent issue of Cooking Light Magazine and had set it aside as one to make for breakfast soon. Little did we know that it would come in handy for our Washington adventure. So, without further adieu we give you what we’re calling Gruyère French Toast with Warm Apple Syrup.
We started by thinly slicing our McIntosh apples. 
We then added a diced shallot and some butter to a skillet and sautéed for a minute. 
Once the shallots were translucent, we added a mixture of corn starch and cider as well as the sliced apples and some maple syrup. We brought the ingredients to a boil, reduced the heat and cooked for another three minutes. 
We removed the apple syrup from the flame and set it aside, keeping it warm. We then turned to our loaf of ciabatta bread and cut it into eight thick slices. 
Next we cut into the bottom of each slice forming a pocket in which we stuffed two slices of Gruyère cheese. 
I’m getting hungry again just writing about this…Anyway, we mixed up our French toast batter using milk, buttermilk, egg, egg white and nutmeg. 
We coated each slice thoroughly in the batter while we heated a teaspoon of butter in a large skillet. 
We then added a few slices to the skillet for toasting, along with a half cup of pecans. We toasted the bread for about 2 minutes per side and repeated the butter and toast process until we were through all the slices. We left the pecans in the skillet the whole time, tossing them around occasionally. 
Once complete, we served the toast immediately, topped it with the warm apple syrup that we had set aside earlier and garnished with the butter toasted pecans and a little extra maple syrup. (Yeah – this isn’t really “cooking light” anymore.) 
The French toast was a delight! It was hot, crispy, sweet and nutty. It was also a bona fide hit. Mike gave the dish 3 spoons. He said the flavors were 4 spoon worthy, but he wasn’t a fan of the ciabatta. He prefers a softer bread to a chewy one. Mr. N gave the toast itself 3 spoons, but didn’t care for the apple syrup. (I’m guessing it was the shallots.) 
Miss A was excited that it was her pick, tasted it all and said it was very good. Then she ran off again. I’m going to patent the Miss A diet one of these days. (Take a bite, dance around, take another bite, do a cart-wheel, take another bite and jump up and down, grab a granola bar and run circles around the house.) So really who knows how many spoons for her this time…she said she liked it. She took three bites. I guess we’ll just see what happens the next time we make this. And for me – it’s a 4 spooner. I loved everything about this meal – the bread, the cheese, the apples and shallots. Mmmmmm. This is easily going to be a recurring breakfast this fall and winter.
Print this recipe: Gruyere French Toast with Warm Apple Syrup
Eat, Play, Love 
Cheesy bread and apples?? Kristy, you’re making me hungry, which is not helping me lose the 5 pounds I gained during Rosh Hashanah! Sounds so good… 😉
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You are inspired! lovely idea – YUM 🙂
Mary x
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Thanks Mary! This one spoke to me. 😉
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Did you say french toast- did you mean to say Kitchen Belleicious’ favorite thing in the world- as in Kitchen Belleicious could eat french toast every day of her life! thats what I thought!
Love the apples addition! My oh my- your family eats good
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Thanks Jessica! We sure did eat well this morning. 🙂 I highly recommend this one if you love French toast. The sauce alone is just incredible and then there’s the cheese. Oh my!
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This sounds and looks amazing! And Miss A is so adorable, though she hardly knows what she is missing out on!! 🙂
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LOL! I know. Her leftovers didn’t go to waste though. 😉
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I can’t believe how fantastic this French toast looks. I’ve stuffed mine before with a cream cheese-marmalade mixture but the gruyere sounds sooooo crazy good. I can’t wait to try this.
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I too have stuffed with a cream cheese mix and even some ricotta, but this Gruyere was in a league all its own. 🙂
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Not sure I’ll be allowed to try this anytime soon – I’d have to make it only for myself because my wife isn’t a fan of fruit mixed with savoury stuff (well, I guess it wouldn’t be such a shame – huge plate of this all to myself… mwahaha). I’m so used to have french toast with just sugar and cinnamon – I wonder what it’s like with cheese and onion?!
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My advice…wonder no longer. Just make it. 🙂 Nothing wrong with treating yourself to breakfast. You could always cut the recipe in half, but I could probably have eaten the full recipe. Probably not a good idea, but I think I could have done it.
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Oh my yumminess!!! I want to wake up to that!
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Me too. I need to make this again. 🙂
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YUM! This looks too good… must try!
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Definitely! 🙂
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Wow. You hands down have one-upped any french toast I have ever made. I love everything about this recipe.
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Me too Russell! Me too! 🙂 It’s one that’s going to be in our regular rotation. I don’t know that I’ll ever eat regular French toast again. 😉
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That looks great! I love the combination of flavors…in french toast. We would eat this for dinner at my house! In fact, I hope we do so very soon.
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I think I’d eat this for every meal. 😉
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Kristy, your posts always make me lick my lips! YUM! I love the way Miss A made the decision on which state to focus on. You have some very fortunate children, that’s for sure!
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Thanks Eva! These little guys make us the fortunate ones. 🙂
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Miss A’s diet needs to be patented. I’m telling you Kristy, you can be the next Jack LaLane lol. I would be your first customer LOL. But this Gruyère French Toast with warm Apple syrup. sounds really delicious. I was thrown off by the shallots too like Mr. N but it looks amazing.
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I’m telling you – she has a great system. Mike has dared me to try it someday. He thinks I’d look hilarious moving around as much as she does. I think you could easily skip the shallots in this recipe. Not me though – I could eat shallots like candy. (Cooked ones of course!)
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Cheesy french toast? Yes please! It’s like a fancier take on the apple-cheese combo, and it looks divine! I got excited when I saw you sticking slices of Gruyere into the bread 🙂
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Those were my exact thoughts when I saw this recipe in the magazine. 🙂 I knew it was one we had to make. I was so excited when Miss A picked Washington!
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That is one fancy breakfast!
and I love all the pictures..they are all so appetizing
If only I had some Gruyère cheese this would be on the menu tomorrow for sure
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I think any kind of “nutty” cheese would work. 🙂
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This definitely deserves four spoons, I can tell just from looking at the photos. Cooking Light has such great recipes. Never lacking on flavor or deliciousness either! This is making me so hungry…good time it’s lunch time. 🙂
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I couldn’t agree more. Somehow or another I have a way of making them unlight. Mostly I think it has to do with my portion sizes. 😉
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Interesting French toast I never had it this way, looks so yummy, the mix of flavours are phenomenal
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I’ve had different stuffed French toasts before, but usually with cream cheese. This one was much more savory. I loved it!
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If this is a Cooking Light recipe, I’m going to subscribe!! You made me hungry and I just had lunch! I love sauted apples; I’d probably leave out the onions too and the cider in fact and just use a sweet applesauce to top these fabulous filled french toasts!! I do love ciabatta but maybe per Mike’s comment use something softer – using ciabatta would be great for a panini with these ingredients and french bread for french toast!! I’m definitely going to make these this wkend!
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They have such great recipes Linda! I usually clip at least 5-10 per issue. A sweet apple sauce would be good on this for sure! You’ll have to let me know how it turns out. 🙂
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Oh those look awesome!
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Thanks! 🙂
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This recipe looks wonderful for a Sunday breakfast/brunch. Michigan trails behind Washington state as producer of apples in the US coming in 3rd. I am hoping we have time this weekend to take the kids to an apple orchard to pick apples so I can make wonderful apple recipes. This will have to be on my list of things to make!
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We’re still trying to find time to get to the orchard too. These apples were from the farmer’s market. I’m dying to get my hands on a whole boat load of apples from the farm though – apple sauce, apple pie, apple stuffed pork chops. Oh the list goes on and on! Hopefully you guys can get to one this weekend. The weather is gorgeous! 🙂
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I’m sorry but this is not French toast. French toast could only hope to be so spectacular. You’ll have to come up with a different name, keeping in mind that “Thingamajig” is already taken. 🙂
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LOL! I think you’re absolutely right – it does deserve a new name! And your Thingamajig is on my list of things to make with apples this fall too!
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As a resident of the state of Washington, with apples everywhere, I will definitely have to steal this to try. Hubs would love the gruyere surprise for sure.
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Darn! Had I known…I would have come to you for recipe suggestions. Well, I’m sure we’ll hit Washington again at some point, and when we do I’ll be seeking your advice! 🙂
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OMG. Now this is the kind of food that could get me into SERIOUS trouble. Too good… and McIntosh, near and dear to a Canadian’s heart 🙂 The Miss A diet – I’m with you – a little dance, a little bite – lol. Love the way she can’t commit to the seated position – I had one like that… too funny. Your photos are *smashing* – love the autumn plate, the small syrup server and look at those pecans…. oh, so, yummy. All of it.
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Thanks Kelly! This one did get me in lots of trouble. I ate way too much! (I of course couldn’t let the piece of toast left on Miss A’s plate go to waste!) That small syrup server is actually a vase I’ve had in a curio for years. I saw it in there recently and put it into my food/photo box. It’s nice to have a use for it. 🙂
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Loved the recipe, and loved the plates, gorgeous!
THe other day Phil mentioned French toast – would you believe i’ve never had it? He says he’ll make some for me soon, I have to show him your recipe….
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Don’t miss this one either…French Toast, Bermuda-style!
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I couldn’t decide if the apple one or this one was better. I like them both a ton. I think everyone else prefers the Bermuda one though. 🙂
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Oh Sally! With your homemade breads – you could have some amazing French toasts! There are so many delicious options. 🙂 Yes, Phil will definitely have to make you some soon. As for the plates…birthday gift from my mom. 🙂 She stocked me up on some fun dishes and “props.”
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