So, a regular day at the office usually consists of professionals piling into a conference room at some point during the day to talk. Talk and eat in between talking. I ordered lunch and I made the amateur mistake of ordering bread to accompany the smart salads with low fat vinaigrette. BREAD!!! Golden french baguettes to be precise. After the meeting, all that remained was my doughy mistake. Somehow I missed the announcement that we were on strike from bread. When? How? Why? Since it was a Friday I saw it as a win. I took the bread home already plotting to make french toast for weekend brunch. Turning wheat into a treat. Here’s a preview from my kitchen diary…

Ingredients:

• French Baguette ( 1 loaf, sliced diagonally)
• Mascarpone (1/2 cup)
• Vanilla (2 teaspoons)
• Powdered Sugar (1/3 cup)
• Fresh Blueberries (1/3 cup)
• Fresh Raspberries (1/3 cup)
• Fresh Mint
• Almond Slices (1/4 cup)
• Eggs (3, medium to large)
• Cinnamon ( 2 teaspoons)
• Honey (1 tablespoon)
• Half & Half (1/3 cup)
• Granulated Sugar (1/4 cup)
• Butter (1 tablespoon)

Instructions:

1. Mix mascarpone, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and powdered sugar until smooth.  Gently fold in blueberries, raspberries, and honey. Set aside.
2. Slice your baguette into diagonal pieces that measure about 1 – 2 inches and line them up in a medium baking dish greased with butter. Cut into each slice piece creating pockets. Don’t cut through completely as this will be the area that you stuff each with your berry mascarpone filling.
3. Fill each pocket you created in your sliced bread with your berry mascarpone filling. Set aside.
4. In another bowl whisk together eggs, milk, granulated sugar, the rest of the vanilla, and cinnamon. Pour over bread. Cover and chill for at least ½ an hour.
5. Sprinkle almonds on top and bake for 40 minutes at 350 °F or until starting to brown and egg mixture has settled.
6. When serving you can dust with powdered sugar, cinnamon, and top with a few fresh mint leaves. You may have a little bit of the berry mascarpone filling left which you can use to drizzle on top of your final plating.

Enjoy!