Oh. My.

I’ve really outdone myself!  

I decided to participate in Vegan Appetite’s Food Network Friday.
The challenge was to “veganize” a recipe from the Food Network’s website for Banana Stuffed French Toast.
We had the option to add or omit ingredients as we like.

In my opinion, what goes great with bananas?? Peanut Butter of course!
AND…I had some canned coconut milk that was leftover from a curry I made a few days ago.
AND…I had a carton of So Delicious’ Vanilla Coconut Milk Beverage (which by the way I am CRAZY about!)

So you see it was a no-brainer.

And thus Vegan Coconut Peanut Butter and Banana Stuffed French Toast was born!

So how to make eggless French Toast you might ask? There are actually tons of recipes for vegan French Toast. I started out by looking at Vegan with a Vengeance’s vegan “Fronch Toast”  recipe. I had made it before and the use of chickpea flour is just genius. Thank you Isa! From there it was simple.

Vegan Coconut Peanut Butter and Banana Stuffed French Toast
Makes about 4-5 thick slices

Ingredients

• 1 loaf of Italian bread (purchase this UNsliced)
• 1-2 ripe bananas
• peanut butter (natural please!)
• 1/2 cup coconut milk from a can
• 1/2 cup So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk Beverage
• 1/4 cup chickpea flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• dash of salt (optional)
• vegetable or canola oil
• maple syrup
• toasted coconut (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat over to 375.
2. Cut off about 2 inches or so from the end of the loaf of bread – do whatever you like with it!
3. Cut a slice of bread about 1.5″ wide. Make a slit down the center of the slice  but only from the top going straight down so you leave the sides and bottom intact. Basically you are creating a “pocket” for the stuffing. Repeat for 3-4 more slices.
4. Place the bread on a cookie sheet into the preheated oven. Let bake for about 3 minutes – you want the bread to feel dried out and slightly stale – but not toasted. Alternatively of course you could just use stale bread!
5. Once the bread is dried out, cut the bananas into small slices and place the slices into a bowl. Add some peanut butter and mix around – it’s ok if the bananas get smooshed.
6. Stuff the banana mixture into the bread “pocket.”
7. In a separate wide and shallow bowl, combine the coconut milk, coconut milk beverage, vanilla, cinnamon, salt (if using), and chickpea flour. Mix until combined – it’s ok if there are a few lumps.
8. Pour oil into a large non-stick skillet until there is a very thin coating on the bottom – I used a 12″ skillet and used about 2T oil. Preheat the skillet.
9. Place the stuffed bread slices into the coconut milk mixture until well soaked. Then carefully place the soaked bread into the preheated skillet.
10. Cook each side for about 2 minutes. When it’s browned and crispy it’s done!
11. Serve with maple syrup, sprinkle with toasted coconut, and eat your “vegan coconut peanut butter and banana french toast” right away!

YUMMY!