Good evening, everyone! If your holiday plans include overnight guests who need to be fed in the morning, these variations on a theme might prove useful. Both recipes involve an egg and liquid mixture poured over some sort of bread and baked in the oven; they came from my mother in the 1960s or 1970s, but I have no idea where she got them. They scale up or down, depending on how many mouths you have to feed and/or how hungry they are.
Variation #1 (savory): Oven Fondue
- 2 English muffins, split and generously buttered
- 1 cup grated cheese (I used a cheddar/ gruyere combo)
- ½ tsp dry mustard
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups whole milk or half and half
- ½ tsp salt
- dash of pepper
- (Extras: cubed ham, Canadian bacon, crumbled bacon, crab, mushrooms, jalapeños, asparagus, whatever you like)
Preheat oven to 350F. Place muffin halves,
buttered-side up, in a greased 8x8” baking dish. Place extras (if using) on top of muffins, then top with grated cheese and sprinkle with dry mustard.
Beat eggs, milk or half and half, salt and pepper together and pour over muffins. Bake 30-35 minutes or until set and top and edges start to turn golden brown.
Note: I’ve tried 2% milk and the custard just doesn’t set up as well. And I have no idea how it got the “fondue” moniker, since it isn’t like any other fondue I’ve ever seen.
Variation #2 (sweet): Orange Upside-Down French Toast
- 2 Tbsp butter or margarine
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp grated orange rind
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 c orange juice
- 4 slices firm white bread
Preheat oven to 400F. While oven is heating, put butter in 8x8” baking dish and set in oven for a few minutes to melt. Mix brown sugar, cinnamon and orange rind together and sprinkle evenly over melted butter. Beat eggs with orange juice; dip bread in mixture, soaking well. Arrange evenly in dish and pour remaining egg mixture over top.
Bake about 25 minutes; remove from oven and let stand about a minute before inverting onto serving platter (or lift out with a spatula and flip onto plates). Serve as is or top with syrup or warmed orange marmalade.
My brother couldn’t have milk, so this version of French toast was served for holiday breakfasts. It’s also a good way to have a bunch of French toast done at the same time, unlike the skillet version. Can use whatever bread floats your boat; I think it’s especially good with cinnamon raisin swirl.
Hope that you have lots of yummy holiday food in the offing over the next few weeks! But in the meantime, what’s for dinner tonight at your place?
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