Blueberry-Stuffed French Toast with Blueberry-Orange Sauce

Could anything be better than French Toast covered with a blueberry sauce? How about French Toast stuffed with blueberries and covered with a blueberry sauce? As soon as I saw Chef Tom's blueberry-stuffed French Toast with blueberry-orange sauce, I knew I was going to try this.

This is a thoroughly decadent and incredibly delicious breakfast that will cheer anyone up on a cold March weekend morning when spring refuses to come along. I haven't made any real changes to Chef Tom's original recipe except to substitute maple syrup for the sugar. There's no combination of flavours quite like blueberries and maple syrup, and the critical instruction for making this French Toast is to avoid eating the blueberry-maple syrup bread filling before stuffing the bread. With a little luck, you might have a spoonful or two left over after stuffing to put into your mouth!

Blueberry-stuffed French Toast with blueberry-orange sauce

French toast:

butter
6 eggs
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
2/3 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (thawed and drained, if frozen)
8 slices Italian bread, 1-1/4 inches thick
1/3 cup sliced almonds

Blueberry-orange sauce:

1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup water
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
2 oranges, peeled and divided into sections (I used blood oranges)
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Preheat oven to 400º and grease a large baking sheet with a generous layer of butter.

Whisk together the eggs in a medium bowl with the orange peel, orange juice and 2 tablespoons of the maple syrup until well blended. Pour into a 13×9-inch baking pan and set aside.

In a small bowl combine blueberries and the remaining 1 tablespoon of maple syrup. Using the tip of a sharp knife, cut a 1-1/2-inch wide pocket in the side of each bread slice. Fill the pockets with the blueberry mixture, dividing evenly.

Place the filled slices in the egg mixture. Let stand on each side for 5 minutes to absorb the egg mixture. Arrange on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with the almonds. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, and then turn over the slices to bake for another 5 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, make the blueberry-orange sauce by bringing the orange juice and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the blueberries and orange sections and bring to a boil again. Cook for another 2 minutes or until the juice is released from the fruit. Stir in the maple syrup and cornstarch, and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for another couple of minutes or until the sauce thickens. Reduce to a simmer until the french toast is baked.

Serve the french toast slices warm covered with hot blueberry-orange sauce.