Banana & salted caramel stuffed french toast sandwich recipe

I love French Toast, but stuffed with slices of fried banana and homemade salted caramel sauce takes things to a whole new level.

No this is not healthy food, this is not something you eat every day or very often, but if you wanted a spoiling breakfast or lazy weekend brunch treat that satisfies a sweet tooth this may be an option. I actually used very little salted caramel so the sandwiches were not that sweet. The perfect base onto which you could dust icing sugar or drizzle generously with maple syrup.

Salted caramel is one of my all-time-best sweet treats and if you haven’t seen my recipe for this you can find it by clicking here.

This is what it looks like:

It’s pure golden heaven!

Admittedly I had a jar of this on hand so making these French Toast sandwiches was pretty quick and easy. You could also use a ready-made caramel or dulce du leche.

I quite like making French Toast made with only beaten eggs as I did with this horrendously delicious dish, but for this, I think it’s good to add a splash of milk and a dash of vanilla extract, it keeps them a little light and fluffy.

So work on a ratio of 1 egg to 60ml (1/4 cup) of milk. So 2 eggs beaten with 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract will coat about 4 smallish sandwiches.

Bread of choice should always be something soft and white like challah (Kitka) or brioche. I love using raisin bread which is readily available in most South African bakeries.

I always fry my French Toast in butter, is there any other way?

When you are making a French Toast sandwich like this you will want to dip the bread very quickly through the egg/milk mixture so as to not get it too soggy. It’s OK to let it wallow in the mixture when you are frying the toast on both sides as this cooks it through, but here you don’t want soggy bread.

Fry up sliced bananas very briefly in just a very small knob of butter until they just start to soften. This is literally in a matter of minutes. You will need about 1/2 a banana per sandwich, or more if they are bigger slices and you are greedier.

Spread each slice of bread with a layer of salted caramel in the same way you would butter, add your sliced fried banana and then sandwich the bread together.

Heat a nonstick frying pan and melt a knob of butter. Dunk the sandwich briefly in the egg/milk mixture and flip it over quickly to coat the other side and then drop this straight into the hot pan, frying it for a few minutes per side until golden brown.

Serve hot with a dusting of icing sugar or a drizzle of syrup.

If you are not into bananas then fill them with fried apple or pear pieces instead. You could of course move over to a completely savoury vibe and do bacon or ham and cheese. I think bacon and banana would be amazing, or you could just have the crispy bacon on the side.

I think on balance I prefer my French Toast fried on both sides and topped with things as I did with my Gorgonzola and pear recipe. This way you can increase your bread-to-fruit ratio.