I’ve made another overnight French toast before, and it was much sweeter than this one, but not in a bad way…just different.  They’re different enough that I can’t choose which one I liked better.  The lemon adds a nice tartness to the slight sweetness of this one that doesn’t require any syrup, so the berries are a perfect accompaniment.  The other French toast is one that welcomes a generous pour of syrup and a side of crisp bacon.  Don’t ask me why sugar goes best with more sugar.  It just does.  Both are tasty and can be prepped the night before and baked in the morning.  I love that.

The recipe called for brioche, but my rather poor choice of buying groceries at Wal Mart meant that we had to use a loaf of French bread.  It is French toast though, and we found it to be a great bread to use in this recipe.  The brioche would probably have yielded a denser and more rich breakfast.

We served the French toast with fresh blueberries and raspberries.  The original recipe (found here) from the kitchn has a lovely sounding mixture for the berries of dry cava wine and mint, but we played it simple.  We also decided not to dust the French toast with powdered sugar because of the sweet lemon glaze.  It was plenty sweet for me, but serve some on the side if you have a sweet tooth.  Enjoy!

Lemon Glazed French Toast

(courtesy of thekitchn)

Ingredients

• One 16 to 20-ounce loaf of French bread (brioche or challah)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 cups 2% milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. If planning to bake immediately, preheat the oven to 425éF. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray or butter.
2. Slice the bread into 1/2-inch-thick slices, then cut each slice in half. Arrange half of the bread in overlapping layers in the baking dish.
3. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl until well mixed, then whisk in the brown sugar. Whisk in the milk, vanilla, salt, and nutmeg. Pour half of the custard over the bread. Layer the rest of the bread on top, and pour the rest of the custard over to coat. (At this point the casserole can be covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours.)
4. When ready to bake, take the casserole out of the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes before baking. Heat the oven to 425°F. Bake the casserole for 30 minutes, or until slightly golden on top, and puffy.
5. Whisk the lemon juice with the confectioners’ sugar and drizzle the glaze over the hot casserole.
6. Let the casserole cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Serve in large slices, with fresh berries on the side.

The meringues were light and crunchy, the lemon curd and raspberries were perfect partners; tart and sweet, and the pistachios added such a wonderful richness to the whole dessert.  To top it all off, they were beautiful.  This is an impressive looking dessert, and Jackie said that it wasn’t all that complicated or tedious.  She even let the meringues sit in the oven overnight and they were still perfect.

Making individual dessert can sometimes me a pain, but these are incredibly easy to assemble.  I will definitely be putting this recipe away to make another time.  Thanks, Jackie!

Pistachio Pavlovas with Lemon Curd and Raspberries

Ingredients

Meringues:

• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 4 large egg whites
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup dry-roasted pistachios, chopped

Lemon curd:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
• 1 teaspoon corn starch
• Dash of salt
• 2 (6-ounce) packages fresh raspberries
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 250°.
2. To prepare meringues, cover 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Draw 4 (4-inch) circles on each piece of paper. Turn paper over; secure with masking tape.
3. Place cream of tartar and 4 egg whites in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Gradually add 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form.
4. Divide the egg white mixture evenly among 8 drawn circles on baking sheets. Shape meringues into nests with 1-inch sides using the back of a spoon. Sprinkle evenly with nuts.
5.  Bake at 250° for 1 hour, rotating baking sheets after 30 minutes. Turn oven off, and cool meringue nests in closed oven for 2 hours. Remove from oven, and carefully remove meringue nests from paper.
6.  To prepare lemon curd, combine whole eggs and 1 egg white in a medium bowl; stir well with a whisk. Heat 1/2 cup granulated sugar, rind, juice, potato starch, and salt over medium-high heat in a small, heavy saucepan to 180° or until tiny bubbles form around edge. Gradually add hot juice mixture to egg mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return juice mixture to pan. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Spoon curd into a bowl; cool to room temperature. Cover and chill.
7. Arrange about 1/4 cup raspberries in each meringue nest; top with about 2 tablespoons lemon curd. Sprinkle the nests evenly with powdered sugar, if desired.  Sprinkle with a few chopped pistachios if you have any left over. Serve immediately.

It was a light cake, perfect all by itself, no whipped cream needed.  I used turbinado sugar instead of white granulated sugar and loved the crunch it provided.  This cake is so easy to prepare and has simple ingredients most people have on hand.  The buttermilk is also non-essential since you can make your own buttermilk in 10 minutes with regular milk and some lemon juice or vinegar.

Make your own buttermilk: Add one teaspoon tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to one cup of milk and let it sit, about 10 minutes.

The only problem I had is that after baking NONE of the raspberries were visible.  It still tastes wonderful, so it wasn’t a problem.  It was also a nice surprise for the guests who saw the cake initially as a boring, thin, sugar topped cake and were pleasantly surprised to find a few raspberries at the bottom of their slice.

Simple Berry Buttermilk Cake

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
• 1 cup fresh raspberries (or any berry)

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 2/3 cup (146 grams) sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about two minutes, then beat in vanilla and zest, if using. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate.

We are still enjoying our time in Colorado.  I am loving hanging out with my too-cute-for-words nephew.  He is such a happy baby!

I did not get to witness this personally, but my daredevil husband jumped off a cliff on the property here into “Deep Lake”.  He impressed quite a few people with this act of craziness.  I am married to this man…