French toast eclairs filled with cream. Step by step recipe

It’s time for French toast! I present you some torrijas in the form of a canutillo and stuffed , a new point of view for the famous French toast   of Easter. A recipe both original and traditional for the most typical sweet at Easter. This dessert consists of a slice of bread soaked in milk, battered in egg, fried in olive oil and flavored to taste with sugar, cinnamon and some nuts. I have used crustless bread without crust so that it is a little less sweet than when it is made with Brioche bread and with a smoother texture than the French toast bread . The history of French toast is very curious, it dates back to the 15th century and apparently it was a suitable food for the recovery of parturients. What do you think?

This recipe that I present today is a very simple dessert, almost like a cream cheese but with a milder flavor. As a base we will use a slice of sliced ​​bread to which we will give the shape of a cane or canutillo to fill it with rich pastry cream. Imagination to power, you can use chestnut cream, Catalan, chocolate, orange, cream, cheese cream … You can even combine several different fillings as if they were fritters of all saints. Try it, you will like it. I leave you with this modernization of the French toast, a simple recipe in case you want to try something different on these dates.

Preparation of the pastry cream

1. The first step is to prepare the ingredients with which we are going to flavor the milk. We wash the lemon very well and peel its skin in a fine way, without much white that then makes the dessert bitter. We open the vanilla bean and remove the seeds that we will reserve to add later to the milk.
2. We heat the milk over medium heat almost to the boiling point. We lower the temperature and remove from the heat, add the vanilla seeds, the lemon peel and finally the cinnamon stick. We leave everything to rest for 5 minutes (infusing the milk) while we beat the eggs.
3. We separate the yolks from the whites and put them in a bowl with the sugar (100 g). We beat vigorously with an electric mixer or some rods until we achieve a foamy mixture.
4. Add to the bowl containing the cream of yolks and sugar the fine cornmeal. To mix better we can help ourselves with a little of the hot milk from step 2. We beat everything very well.
5. Heat the milk again at medium temperature for 10 minutes with the vanilla, the lemon peel and the cinnamon. After cooking we pass through a strainer to remove impurities and remove half in a bowl and then soak the slices of bread.
6. We put the casserole with the rest of the milk over low heat, add the mixture of egg cream, sugar and fine cornmeal. We continuously remove with some rods (I just bought some silicone ones that are very good) without lumps and taking care that it never boils. When it begins to thicken, remove from the heat and continue to move for one more minute. Keep in mind that although the cream is a little liquid it will thicken when it cools.
7. We fill a pastry bag, let it rest 1/2 hour and then store in the fridge until it cools. We reserve to fill the canutillos de torrija.

Preparation of the cream eclairs

1. We choose a comfortable container to dip the sliced ​​bread and fill it with the infused and cold milk that we have reserved. Add the port wine and beat with a fork to mix the liquids well.
2. Beat the eggs until they foam a little and add two tablespoons of infused milk, beat again and place on another plate that is comfortable to wet the slices before frying.
3. We put a pan with olive oil and heat over medium heat.
4. While the oil is heating, we bathe the slices of sliced ​​bread in the milk. We turn it so that they are impregnated well but do not drip. Crush each slice a little with a slotted spoon, thus removing excess milk.
5. To roll the slice into a canutillo I have used some black aluminum rollers. The canutillos will have the shape and thickness of the roll used, you can also use a conical one to make cone shapes (like the typical fried canes from Galicia). They are easy to get in specialized kitchen stores, even in some large area they are also sold.
6. We place ourselves in a clear area of ​​the counter where we have space to work and roll up. We start by rolling the toast to the metal cylinder from below and thanks to the milk it will stick easily to the canutillo. Roll up and seal with a little egg. Press so that it sticks well to the cylinder walls and pass it through the beaten egg and the almond hash. From there directly to the pan with very hot oil.
7. We fry the eclairs on all two sides until they are golden, we use a fork to go around the roll. We remove to a plate with absorbent kitchen paper to remove the excess oil.
8. We remove the aluminum bead just before filling it, so you will have the perfect shape. Thanks to the frying oil you will have no problem when removing it, you will see that it comes out easily (but be careful not to burn yourself).
9. Fill with cream with the pastry bag through both holes until they are full.
10. We fill a wide bowl with sugar and cinnamon powder (about two teaspoons of cinnamon powder per 100 g of sugar) and mix well with a fork. We coat the French toast eclairs in that mixture, which are well impregnated.
11. Let cool and taste at room temperature or cold, simply delicious.

Tips and recommendations:

• Many cooks use sunflower oil for this recipe because they prevent the typical lumps from forming when frying. I recommend extra virgin olive oil, enhances the flavor of the French toast and gives it a different point, in addition to being a perfect fry.
• The milk should be at room temperature because if it is hot the bread will melt when wet.
• We must fill the eclairs with cream a little before eating them. Do not think to fill them and eat them the next day because the cream softens the structure of the French toast and they will not be good. For example, if they are for food, you fill them an hour before and they will be great.
• Another presentation option is to run the cream bead through a little icing sugar. This way you avoid excess sugar. Both options (sugar and cinnamon or icing sugar) are delicious.
• In my case I used a large frying pan, but if the one you have is medium or small, don’t use much oil, so the oil temperature will remain constant.