Caramel Apple Hong Kong French Toast

Hong Kong-style French toast is usually made with three slices of bread, rather than the conventional two. This, in my opinion, makes the whole thing much more exciting and monolithic. Like the obelisk in 2001: A Space Odyssey, but made of bread.

Done in 30 minutes

Dish by Hugh Woodward

Ingredients

What you'll need:

3Granny Smith apples

2 tbspunsalted butter

3 tbspcaster sugar

1 tsplemon juice

11 tsp corn flour mixed with 1 tbsp water

1loaf white bread, cut into thick slices, crusts removed

2eggs

250ml whole milk

1pinch of salt

100ggranulated sugar

1 tspground cinnamon

(to serve)Salted caramel ice cream

(to serve)Caramel

Hong Kong! Never been, always wanted to. This recipe is a hybrid mash up of this old colonial classic and apple pie. And it's served with ice cream and caramel. It's big, bouncy and a whole lot of fun, and it might just become your next go to French toast recipe.

Method

Peel and finely dice the apples, then heat the butter in a frying pan and fry the apples. They'll soften and give off a lot of juice. Add the caster sugar and lemon juice, cook until the apples are really soft, then add the corn flour slurry to thicken the mixture. Set aside.

Take three of your slices of white bread and cut a shape in the centre. I went for a heart, because I'm romantic.

Whisk together the eggs, milk and salt to make the French toast base. Dip each slice briefly yet thoroughly in the mixture. Sandwich the piece with the hole shape cut out in the centre and stuff it with apples - its a secret bloody pocket full of apples! Can you even believe it!

Heat a tbsp of butter in a frying pan and very gently fry the french toast all over, making sure each side feels the heat.

Meanwhile, whisk the sugar and cinnamon together. When the French toast is cooked, dust the cinnamon sugar over the top.

Serve with ice cream and caramel, because life is for enjoying and thin people are miserable.

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Hugh Woodward

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Hugh's culinary life began aged 14 when he cooked spaghetti hoop burritos to impress girls. Since then his colourful career has taken him to performing in Skegness, making cheese in Peckham, running a wine bar on Columbia Road and reluctantly working in a (briefly) Michelin Starred restaurant. He likes fish, things cooked on charcoal, cheap dinners and London's rich cultural tapestry of food shops. When he's not cooking or eating he can be found mudlarking by the river Thames, buying bits in flea markets and hanging out with his cat Keith.