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Stuffed Egg-Battered Toast

“There’s nothing more comforting to a comfort-obsessed halfling than the warm intermingling scents of vanilla, maple, and walnuts filling their home.” - Heroes’ Feast, p. 120

French toast is a staple of Sunday Brunches everywhere, and it’s easy to see why. This fried breakfast bread is easily customized with whatever you want. Syrup? Eggs? Fruit? It’s all fair game to this tasty toast!

Taking a swing at its own version, Heroes’ Feast’s Stuffed Egg-Battered Toast looks to change it up by putting its toppings inside, rather than on top.

With each slice stuffed with mascarpone, walnuts, and a truly questionable amount of vanilla extract, your kitchen and taste buds are surely going to be treated to that homely vanilla smell that halflings crave so much.

Check out below for my notes on the results and for tips and tricks when making this yourself! Get Heroes’ Feast here: https://dnd.wizards.com/heroes-feast

Prep: 5 mins    Cook: 25 mins    Total: 30 mins

Ingredients:

4 ounces (½ cup, 120 g) mascarpone, at room temperature

¼ cup (25 g) walnuts, finely chopped

2 tsp. (10 ml) pure vanilla extract*

4 (1-inch-thick) slices of brioche or challah

2 eggs

½ cup (120 ml) whole milk

¼ tsp. (2 g) kosher salt

2 tbsp. (30 g) unsalted butter

½ cup (120 ml) maple syrup

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting**

* That uh… sure is an amount of vanilla for a ½ cup of mascarpone.

** I used chopped strawberries instead.

In a small bowl, stir together the mascarpone, walnuts and vanilla. (I forgot to take a picture of this each time I made it. L.)

Use a thin knife to cut a 2-inch-long slit through the side of each slice of brioche, creating a pocket.

Gently open the pocket and spoon 1 tbsp. of the mascarpone mixture into each slice.

TIP: As mentioned in the “cook’s notes” section, the bread is very delicate and tears easily- so take extra caution when opening and stuffing the pockets.

Alternatively, the notes mention that you could use ½-inch slices and spread the mixture between them like a sandwich. However, I worry about its structural integrity while dipping it in the egg mixture or flipping it in the frying pan.

But, since stuffing each slice is a pain, it might be worth going with the sandwich method.

NOTE: Only stuff the slices if they’re cut 1-inch-thick. ½-inch and even ¾-inch slices are way too thin and will tear.

In a pie dish or shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and salt.

BEFORE DIPPING the slices, melt 1 tbsp. butter in a large skillet over medium heat.

Dip two stuffed slices into the egg mixture, turning to soak both sides and letting any excess batter drip back into the bowl.

TIP: You only need to let each side soak for a few seconds. Any longer than 5 makes the bread mushy.

Place the sides in a skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Use a spatula to transfer the toasts to a warm plate.

Repeat to cook the remaining two stuffed slices.

Meanwhile, warm the maple syrup in a small saucepan over low heat for a few minutes.

TIP: The “cook’s notes” section mentions that warmed marmalade can be used to replace the maple syrup.

NOTE: I misread the instructions for this step and cooked all four slices at once. To fix the uneven browning, I flipped the lighter parts to the middle of the pan for about 20 seconds after cooking each side.

NOTE: To save on dishes, I chose to not warm my syrup.

Top the toast with strawberries (and/or confectioners’ sugar), drizzle with the maple syrup, and serve.

Overall, this recipe has one thing really working against it: the vanilla extract.

Personally, I found the filling to be inedible with 2 tsp. of vanilla extract in the mascarpone mixture. The alcohol in the extract doesn’t have enough time to cook out and leaves everything with a distinctly alcoholic taste. 

This would be fine if other flavours used in the recipe complimented the taste of the alcohol or if the taste was expected (like an alcoholic french toast). Unfortunately, nothing here works with it and, being a breakfast food, it isn’t expected. So, it ends up overwhelming the toast and making it unappetizing.

My solution to this was to cut back the vanilla extract to ½ tsp. The taste was still a little strong, but there was an improvement. If you’re planning to make this at home, consider cutting the vanilla back even further, or try using vanilla bean instead to skip the alcohol entirely.

It’s also worth mentioning that the mascarpone makes these very rich. Interestingly, I found that the syrup and strawberries really helped cut the richness. You’re still only going to eat one though.

Finally, as mentioned in a previous step, although the structural integrity might be questionable with the sandwich method, it might be worth it just to skip spooning the mixture into the pockets. The mess it creates really makes you wonder if it’s worth it.

All in all, the unaltered recipe gets a 2.5/5, going up to 4/5 when the amount of vanilla extract is reduced. Still losing points for the remaining alcoholic taste and messy and needlessly difficult construction.

Wanted to write out something not-so-heavy, so I'm gonna borrow @arandomao3user's freaky Tim and Bernard pair.

Kink and Bondage go hand-in-hand, but there's a constant problem in the TimBern household. And it's all Tim's fault. He's a fucking escape artist. He keeps getting out of the ropes, the cuffs, the zip ties, the soft restraints, the chains, the really fancy bondage knots that took forever to actually get him into, the specialty restraints, the straitjacket from that one undercover op that went really weird...

It was cute at first when he could play-tackle Tim back to the bed (or floor or table or counter or chair or deck) for a different sort of game, but at this point it's become a problem for the both of them.

Because Tim genuinely can't stop escaping, even when he's into being tied up. Bernard, with equal amounts of frustration and affection, calls it Tim's Robin Reflex. He does it by habit, by accident, and while asleep, on one memorable occasion. Tim's always very sorry, of course, and he is trying so hard to be good for Bernard. It's just that they haven't found that sweet spot yet, that mystery thing that can keep Tim relatively helpless and at Bernard's mercy, but won't trigger the not-fun sort of sense memories that come with years of vigilante work.

So, at a loss and desperate for ideas, Bernard calls his bff.

Jason, actively falling asleep after patrol: "You want advice... On tying up Timmers? Like, shibari 'n whatever? Fucking. Didn't need this in my life, Burn Notice."

Bernard, entirely too awake: "C'mon, Jason; you're one of the most creative people I know and I'm out of ideas. You used to fight all the time! And you have major connections, my man, my buddy, my bestie. Don't you have any alien tech or magical stuff that might work?"

Jason, so tired: "I can ask around later, you freaky...I don't know. I never tied Tim up when we were fighting; I shot him in the thigh once and that slowed him down."

Hearing nothing but dial-tone, Jason sets his phone aside and promptly falls asleep

Three minutes later, Jason sits up in a cold sweat and scrambles for his phone to text Bernard.

J: DO NOT SHOOT TIM

J: BERN. FUCKING ANSWER ME.

J: ISTG IF ONE OF YOU FUCKERS IS SHOT WHEN I GET OVER THERE I WILL GET YOUR HORNY ASSES NEUTERED

Not only do we get owl house season 3, it's also the day Change your mind aired?? How did I not know this sooner?

Yes this is what is under garnet’s suit

I’ve been thinking about these guys recently

@cryptocism

Wouldn’t Nora look more like Ortensia than Felix since she’s a woman and I assume she looks like Felix since they’re siblings..? Oswald reacted completely normal when he saw her, is that another sign that he’s falling for Felix more physically or does Nora just physically not look as close to Ortensia as Felix does?

Return

Hey guys! I'm finally back!^^ )

It's been a while huh..)

To be honest.. It was very difficult time for me all these six (or nine? I didn't count) months..

It's not better now...emotionally.

Buuut, physically I have already rested enough, so I will gladly start making posts again) (and I'll try to think more positive than I am))

Thank you all for waiting for me all the time^^ ❤️❤️