Croissant French Toast Recipe

Welcome back to the South Court Inn B&B Blog.  It has been a while since I last posted, but hope springs eternal and I'm hoping I'll be able to stick to it a bit better this Spring.  As you can well imagine, cooking for the public is a real challenge.   When we opened Memorial Day Weekend, 2000, (and yes, please note that we are coming up on starting our 12th year in business!) I quickly discovered that our guests had some very strong ideas on what a B&B breakfast was supposed to be, and, at least here in Luray, heuvos rancheros was not on their list of things they wanted to try!  Recent discussion at the breakfast table seems to tell me that tastes have changed over the past 12 years, so I promise to give heuvos rancheros another try sometime in the near future.  So don't be surprised if you are here during the week if you come down to a great plate of eggs over a mound of refried beans splashed with green chili sauce and chili con queso with  Spanish rice on the side.

In the meantime, Saturday breakfast here at South Court Inn almost always features my version of French Toast and I want to share the recipe with you.  This recipe is different from those you might be accustomed to in that I bake it in sheet pans, use croissants instead of French or other breads, put no sugar in the custard and give it a haunting flavor by adding ground cardamom to the seasoning.  Note too that I do not salt to the custard because the croissants have enough salt to carry the whole dish.  With that said, sound the trumpets...here is the much requested recipe for croissant French Toast as we serve it here at South Court Inn!

Ingredients:
1 large or 2 small plain croissants per person
2 eggs per person to be served
1 cup half and half
1 tblspn vanilla
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 can non-stick spray

Mixing and Cooking:
Put the eggs, spices and half and half into a blender and blend on medium speed for about 1 minute.  Turn the blender off, remove the blender jar and set in the fridge until ready to dip the croissants.  Slice each croissant lengthwise into two pieces and set aside until ready to pan for baking.  When ready to prepare for baking, preheat your oven to 325F.  Thoroughly coat your baking pan with non-stick spray and set it for convenience on your prep table.  Remove the blender jar from the fridge and pour the contents into a bowl which is as wide as the croissants.  Starting with the croissant bottom, dip them in the custard mix just long enough for them to become moist but not sopping wet.  In fact, allow excess custard to drain from each bottom for a few seconds after dipping. Arrange the bottoms across the pan and repeat with the tops, placing each top over a corresponding bottom.  Once completed, spray the top of all the croissants with non-stick spray.  Transfer the filled pan to the preheated oven and cook for 45 minutes or done, according to your oven's cooking idiosyncrasies.  When done, the croissants should be nicely puffed and browned across the top.  Serve immediately with your favorite syrup or topping alternative.

Alternative Preparations:
During the fall color season, our guests really like the pumpkin version of this recipe I prepare.  Add a cup of pumpkin puree to the custard while it is is in the blender and blend for another minute.  Then (here's the hard part) put the custard through a fine strainer before dipping the croissant in it.  The final product looks better without random strands of pumpkin fiber sticking up into the air.  Serve the pumpkin croissant French toast with a sauceboat of caramel pecan syrup so folks can help themselves and stand back for the onset of a good case of MMMMMMMMMMMMssssssssssss to fill the room!    
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Dining In Luray: German Cuisine at A Moment to Remember

Here's another great Luray restaurant we hope you will seek out and enjoy when visiting beautiful down-town Luray, VA.  Remember we are only 90 miles from the DC metro area, but a whole world away from the stress and demands of Beltway living!

There was a time not too long ago...when the wall was up...and our guards were up...and when Check Point Charlie was recognizable round the world...a time when rounding just about any corner in West Berlin meant encountering a wurst vendor's cart where the offering included, among other things, curry wurst:  a done-just-right sausage steeped in a curry sauce and then slathered with the sauce and add- your-own mustard to make a memorable sausage sandwich right there on the sidewalk.

Well, the wall is gone, our guards eye a different horizon and Charlie is hardly more memorable than the faint perfume of bygone years and us youngsters shagging into the wee hours to Beach and Motown music.  But for those who long for a-moment-in-time-rememberance of that strange concoction, melded together in an isolated-multicultural-city-caldron, there is curry wurst...and a lot more German fare to enjoy...only 90 minutes from the Beltway and one mile from world famous Luray Caverns...right here at A Moment to Remember, 55 Mains Street, Luray, VA.  22835.!!!

How strange as I sit down to write today that I feel the urge to stream my thoughts and talk about food through a looking glass of nostalgia, sensing the slow infusion of memories of Germany and the plates loaded with home-fries, with tight-bound  pork shoulder and hot, steaming wursts weeping hints of the taste delights to come.  Perhaps it is the thought of the connection between the buildings that are now home to A Moment to Remember and South Court Inn:  both built by the same man, both now re-purposed to other lives and views of different horizons.  Whatever it be, do plan on enjoying the years' ago decoration of this old building...the the pressed tin ceilings, the dark, oak, service counter of the 1880s, a counter which saw many a bag of nails and screws cross on their way to other habitats in Town...the large bank of drawers and cubbies that were the transient homes where nails and screws and hinges and clips and hardware rested until called to duty, waiting to be wrapped in newspaper or placed in bags to ease the transition.  Do plan a visit because you'll enjoy John and Elka Thomas' third-career adventure and good German fare to boot.  Do plan on having dinner at A Moment to Remember because the food is good!  Do plan on having dinner at A Moment to Remember because we need to reward folks who will come to Luray and offer good ethnic food to a meat and potatoes palate.  Do plan on dinner at A Moment to Remember! 

As usual, Anita and I have to head it two different directions.  She seems to always take the road opposite mine and enjoys one of the schnitzels...smokey mushrooms, tender pork, browned here and there...a slice of ham, perhaps...or a fried egg...all topped with brown gravy...and sidled up to by just cooked, blond spatzle and sweet-tart red cabbage.  I, on the other hand, have to ride hard on the right and chase memories of those bygone wursts from grill to platter to table.  Hard by I want strong mustard, dill-infused potato salad, red cabbage and reisling or Spaten, or Haker Pschoor or Grolsch even.  On other evenings, Elke makes it harder to choose our favorite, whether the schnitzel or wursts, by offerings of sauerbraten or rouladen.  Both are good; do plan on having dinner at A Moment to Remember.

And, then too, do plan on stopping with us here in Luray, VA, at South Court Inn.  We'll offer a quiet location for the two of you to burrow and enjoy memories of things past, of the sights and sounds that tip your automatic response recall into overdrive and release the mental flow of ease and joy.  Do plan to stay at South Court Inn and when you do and when you ask, we'll tell you that you do need to plan on having dinner at A Moment to Remember.