Monday, March 07, 2011

February 17-22, 2011: Fruit toast (breakfast serial part IV)

My breakfast call-out elicited a few tips on making the best of fruit toast. This interested me no end because as much as I love fruit toast, I'm not sure that I've ventured further than applying slabs of butter to it.

Natalie recommended I try mashed banana and honey.  This began badly when I managed to smash two sweetener bottles on the tiles as I returned the honey to the pantry but was worth the sticky, cutty clean-up.  Bananas on fruit toast taste great, fill the belly and add a major nutritional boost.  Honey can be substituted with golden, maple or any number of other sweetening syrups (should you have any left).

Brian gets a little more elaborate still, teaming banana and fruit toast with peanut butter and cinnamon.  This was pretty damn exciting - four elements I know well, combined in ways I'd never plan, creating an instant favourite.  Yes, really: I got excited about toast.

Johanna suggested variations on the cheese theme.  Cream cheese was an easy sell, adding just a little yoghurty tang to my butter habit.

Then she suggested harder cheeses.  Theoretically, I got this - a little fruit is great with cheese and crackers, right?  But I still couldn't imagine it.  Apparently Johanna likes cheese slices atop toasted fruit bread, while her partner E prefers to grill cheese onto the bread.  I trialled both, using a sharp cheddar, and am backing Johanna on this one - I liked my cheese with more bite and less grease.

I began this project with an almost explicit goal of getting away from toast, but it's been even better to be shown this old fall-back in a new light.

11 comments:

  1. The peanut butter and banana is getting into elvis territory but looks very good - I think I have had this with just regular toast and maple syrup in a cafe and it was very good - just trying to remember the combination - cinnamon does seem to take it to another level

    glad you tried the cheese on fruit toast - it is just enough sweetness for me.

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  2. Yum! I'm pleased you liked it :-)

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  3. ever wish that you could wake up to that idyllic kitchen, the one where the early morning sun is streaming through big wide windows, creating an atmosphere of enchanted yellow haze... outside dewdrop pearls adorn the surrounding garden, and inside, the warm oven hosts a perfect batch of freshly baked muffins, as they do every morning?

    WELL, while the majority of us may often be too entrapped in our own private haze (the haze of sleep deprivation) to muster the energy for crack-of-dawn baking, the good news is that freshly made muffins are far from out of the question for a weekday breakfast!

    in an oversized china cup or regular cereal-size bowl, beat 1 egg. to this egg, add 1/4 cup of almond meal, 1/2 to 1 tsp of baking powder, a pinch of salt, and maple syrup / honey / agave / apple concentrate to taste. mix all ingredients thoroughly, and as a finishing touch, add fresh or frozen berries (or any other fresh / dried fruit). after 1 to 2 minutes in the magic morning muffin machine (otherwise known as the microwave), you will be presented with a sumptuous, protein-packed breakfast, which should be generous enough to fuel two small-eaters until lunchtime.

    and how can one forget simplybreakfast.blogspot.com/ for ever-nourishing breakfast inspiration? who knew a single blog could so effectively turn breaking the fast into such an enticingly comforting ritual?

    oh breakfast! how good to us you are!

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  4. Well, I feel a little silly - I'd never even THOUGHT to put fruit on fruit toast, and now that I've seen it it just seems so perfect!

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  5. Peanut butter, banana and cinnamon is one of my favourite combinations for any sort of toast. So yummy.
    I have also enjoyed grilling some soy cheese onto my fruit toast in the past, it is so good. Especially on fruit English Muffins!

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  6. Ah, I was going to herald peanut butter, but you got there before me! I can also vouch for nutella/Sweet Williams choc spread topped with banana. And if you're super cool, mix a little nutritional yeast into the choc spread first ;)

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  7. I love adding more fruit to it: Peach and vanilla jam with cream cheese, fig jams, etc.

    Also, if you soak saltanas in tea overnight, smash it up with ricotta and honey and put it on toast, it is also a winner.

    Or, I am a fan of pan-frying fruit bread in butter with some nuts, booze and honey if it is a little sturdy.

    Also, using fruit bread to make French toast. Bam.

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  8. It makes me chuckle how many folks've got an opinion on toast!

    Johanna, Natalie & Brian - thanks again. :-)

    Anonymous - that's a neat alternative to the chocolate mug cakes I've seen. Sadly I don't have a microwave at home, but I'm sure I can get it happening in the oven on the weekend.

    Hayley, me either! Are we nuts?!

    Susan, I haven't even set my mind to English muffins - yum!

    Hannah! Nooch in your choc spread? THAT IS CRAZY TALK. But I am prepared to walk/eat the talk.

    Jess, I didn't think you had such a sweet tooth! But you know I do, and you've brought the goods. Thank you.

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  9. I like fruit toast with Vegemite - the salty goes well with the sweet. I understand I am mostly alone in this passion.

    Thousand pound bend serve theirs with hazlenut maple butter which I've heard is AWESOME.

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  10. Vegemite, Lisa? That's another big step beyond cheese in the savoury stakes! Min Lokal do (or did) the maple hazelnut butter thing too. I'll throw my support behind any nut butter derivative.

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