I am feelin’ this mocha biscuit cake, y’all. And I gotta tell ya: I have a soft spot for desserts that come together easily…and this dessert falls into that category.
No Bake Mocha Biscuit Cake
French Toast Sausages & One New Year’s Resolution
Oh my goodness! The new year is here! Are you ready for it? I’m not sure if I am, but that is of no consequence. It’s here, so I better get it together.
Around this time everybody starts making resolutions for themselves and their families. I get it. You want to better yourself and your situation. Usually, I promise myself the same things: lose weight, better hair care(gotta keep my ‘fro tight), get myself organized, blah, blah, blah.
Things have changed this time around. This past year I’ve embarked upon an adventure called I bake he shoots and I couldn’t be more excited. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt the level of enthusiasm that I feel for the work that Dave and I have begun.
So this year…I’m making one New Year’s Resolution:
To fully commit myself to this project, this joint adventure, this endeavor. This year will be dedicated to great food + great photography.
…and better hair care. Seriously, I never kid about my ‘fro.
Alright…enough about ‘fros and revolutions resolutions. Let’s talk food. More importantly, breakfast.
The latest issue of Food Network Magazine has a beautiful cover of Christmas cookies, but inside you’ll find a nice spread dedicated to pigs in a blanket. But not any old pigs in a blanket…french toast sausages. What?
Normally, I’m not really into french toast. I’m a waffle girl. On occasion, I’m a buttermilk-pancakes-with-a-side-of-bacon girl, but when I saw those sausages wrapped up in french toast? I was a changed girl.
Now, I’m not gonna lie to you. These babies take a little bit of work. This isn’t a everyday recipe. I’d file this under special occasions, like the Breakfast in Bed category. Or, the Mother’s Day Brunch category. Or, the I’m-sorry-I-didn’t-pick-you-up-from-the-hospital category. Well, you might need to dig a little deeper for that one.
French Toast Sausages Recipe
Recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine
French Toast Sausages and One New Year's Resolution
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Makes 14 french toast sausages
Author: Food Network Magazine
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 14 breakfast sausages links, about 14 ounces
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup milk(I used vanilla almond milk)
- 1 heaping T granulated sugar
- ¼ t cinnamon
- pinch of nutmeg
- pinch of kosher salt
- 7 slices of white sandwich bread
- 4 T butter, divided
- Maple syrup, for dipping
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a baking sheet with foil.
- Arrange sausages on sheet and spray with Pam or oil.
- Bake for 10 min.
- If sausages aren't brown, broil for an additional 4-5 minutes.
- Remove from oven and set aside.
- Reduce oven temp. to 200 degrees F.
- Whisk eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a small bowl.
- Pour into shallow pan, like a 9 x 9 baking pan.
- With Kitchen scissors, trim the crust from each slice of bread and cut in half, from top to bottom.
- Flatten each piece with your hand and starting with the short end roll around sausage.
- Press to seal and set in the egg mixture to soak for 5 minutes.
- Melt 2 T of butter in a non-stick pan over medium heat. When butter foams add 7 of the wrapped sausages and cook, turning occasionally, for 4-5 minutes.
- When golden brown on each side remove to a paper towel lined baking sheet and keep warm in the oven.
- Add the rest of the butter and repeat with the remaining wrapped sausages.
- Dust with powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup.
Note: I had a lot of egg mixture left over. You could double the amount of sausages and bread slices and dip them in the remaining egg mixture, but you’ll need an additional 4 T butter for frying.
Check out Dave’s photography technique at French Toast Sausages: Behind the Scenes
French Toast Sausages: Behind the Scenes
Since this is the day after the Rose Parade and Mondo and I are about to head out to see the floats, I’ll keep the french toast sausages shoot short and simple.
Setup
I wanted to do an easy menu shot for Foodgawker and Tastespotting along with a few shots for the post. Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble getting these to look right. Maybe I was just tired from the holidays, but my lighting was a mess.
Getting it together
After futzing around for a few hours trying to make boring menu photographs I thought Foodgawker would like, I finally started to make photographs that I liked.
Since I was having trouble, I shut down everything except for one light and went back to the basics. This was a textured object, so I setup a light panel on the left and scraped light across the surface of the object. I then placed a white board on the opposite side of the light to reduce contrast. That’s it.
With this simplified setup, I got a few shots I liked, and called it a day.
Technical
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm 2.8
Strobes: White Lightning x1600
Tripod: Manfrotto
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 50mm
Shutter: 125
Aperture: f/16
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Friends! It’s 2014.
How was your Eve? Did you party like it was 2013 1999? Did you stay in, drink a bottle of Bushmills, and watch X-Files reruns? Or did you go out, stain your favorite party dress, and hit Del Taco at 2am?
I’m not saying I did these things, I’m just saying whatever you did…no judgments.
Just color me happy that you’re all safe, taking it easy, drinking a cup of coffee, and thinking about the year ahead. That’s what I’m doing…minus the coffee part, of course.
Pondering the new year, I can’t wait to see what it brings. Hopefully, good things. Hopefully, tons of smiles, friends, and food…and you. Thanks for checking in; I’ve missed you. Dave and I have something new for you. So, come on back tomorrow and bring your appetite.
Peace and Blessings,
Mondo
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All Things Thursday: Substitute Teacher Edition
David Here,
Mondo is taking a well deserved vacation with her family after the busy holiday cookie season. She will be back next week for another exciting edition of All Things Thursday.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year