French Toast with Cinnamon and Sugar

French toast is one of my favourite treats. 'French toast' is the 'posh' name for it; I usually call it "eggy-bread" which is far more parochial. It is one of those treats that I find myself craving every now and then - the great thing about it is simply how easy it is to make!

'eggy-bread'

All you need is:

6 slices of white bread (may vary due to thickness of bread slices)
2 eggs
1/2 a cup of milk
Some oil to grease the pan


For the Topping:

Cinnamon and Sugar     {my personal favourite!}
... or whatever you fancy (syrup, jam, honey...)

• Crack the eggs into a bowl and add the milk
• Beat the eggs and milk together
• I normally cut each of the slices into quarters  - it just makes it easier to fit in the pan. 
• (Either squares or triangles - personally I think that things taste better when they are triangular. Unfortunately S. cut the bread this time so we have square eggy-bread pieces!)
• Coat a frying pan with a thin layer of oil and heat on the hob
• Dunk the pieces of bread in the egg and milk mixture so they are coated on both sides
• Make sure the pan is hot
• Drop the now coated bread into the hot pan
• Turn the bread over to make sure that the egg is cooked on both sides
• When it is done remove from pan
• Sprinkle plenty of cinnamon and sugar over it (or whatever you feel like having on it...)
• Enjoy!

Cinnamon Toffee Pear Pie

Cinnamon Toffee Pear Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream

I really love cinnamon! This is a great little desert and such a nice treat for any time of the year -although it really is an autumn pudding rather than a spring one...

Shortcrust pastry

Make up a basic sweet shortcrust pastry:

What you need:

235g plain flour
100g butter
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
A pinch of salt
Milk (just a little!)                   

What you need to do:

1. Weigh out the flour, sugar and butter.
2. Mix the dry ingredients (flour/sugar/salt) together in a bowl.
3. Add the butter 
4. Rub in the butter until it resembles a bread-crumb texture
5. Add a little milk to make the mixture bind together (if it is required).
6. Mix until it resembles the dough in the above picture.
7. Wrap in cling film and place the pastry dough in the fridge for about half an hour.
8. In this time you can prepare the ramekins (makes 4) or large dish. 
9.  If making four smaller pies you need to divide the dough into equal amounts.
10. Roll the dough out on a floured surface - then shape it to fit your chosen dish (or dishes)
11. Place in an oven that has been preheated to 180 degrees C for 8 mins so that the pastry is partially cooked.

Pear Halves

Prepare the filling:

What you need:
1 tin of pears
4 tablespoons of caster sugar
1 knob of butter
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon of honey

 What you need to do:

1. Place the sugar, cinnamon, honey and butter in a saucepan
2. Open the tin of pears and add some of the syrup/grape juice from the tin into the pan (just a little -enough to make the dry ingredients wet... if that makes sense)
3. Place the pan on the hob and stir while the mixture heats up.
4. Pay careful attention to the mixture as it bubbles as it thickens changes to a toffee-like caramel consistency.
5. Watch out for the bubbles as you need to make sure it doesn't burn.
6. When it is nice and toffee-like remove the pan from the heat.

1. Now place the pear halves in the pie crust; spread them evenly between the 4 ramekins (or over the single pie crust)
2. Pour the cinnamon toffee over the pear halves.
3. Place pies back in the oven and bake for approximately 12 mins.
4. Leave pies to cool a little so that the ramekins can be handled and the toffee has thickened.
5. Serve with vanilla ice cream!
6. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Toffee Pear Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream