Spiced Challah French Toast Stuffed with Wild Huckleberries and Cream

Believe it or not, this recipe is actually perfect for a morning campfire breakfast (assuming you have a cooler while camping). Whodathunk you could make such a decadent breakfast while camping? You can mix the eggs ahead of time and cook the toast on a skillet right over an open flame. On your morning trek, pick a few wild huckleberries, bring them back to the campsite and prepare this delicious breakfast.

What You’ll Need:

• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 4 slices of day-old challah bread, 1” thick
• ½ cup fresh huckleberries
• ¼ cup cream cheese at room temperature
• 2 pomegranate pluots, plums, or plumcots for garnish, cut into wedges
• Confectioner's sugar for dusting
• Maple syrup (optional, but highly recommended)

1. Combine the eggs, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl and whisk until the egg yolks and whites are thoroughly combined.
2. Next, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. When the butter has melted, gently coat the challah slices in the egg mixture and lay flat on the skillet. You should hear a slight fizz when the challah touches the hot skillet. If you don’t, your skillet is not hot enough. Cook the toast until golden brown on both sides, about 4 to 5 minutes each side.
3. Remove the toast from the skillet and gently spread the cream cheese on 1 side of 2 of the toasts. It is VERY important that the cheese is at room temperature - if it isn’t it will be too hard to spread and it will glob. Next, spread the huckleberries on top of the cream cheese. Place the undressed toasts on top of the cream cheese and huckleberries (you’re essentially making a sandwich).
4. Finally, garnish with pomegranate pluots (my personal favorite), plums, or plumcots. Sprinkle confectioner’s sugar over top and drizzle with maple syrup.

Serves: 2

Cinnamon Plumcot and Wild Blueberry Hand Pies

Often I find my winter-self thanking my summer-self - I thank myself for the sewing and the watering and the weeding. For the foraging and the harvesting and, most of all, for the preserving. The moment I open a fresh can of cinnamon plumcot preserves, I am instantly taken back to that warm summer day when I plucked a ripe plumcot from that beautifully gnarled tree and took a big juicy bite. And when I pop a tiny frozen wild blueberry into my mouth, I remember swimming all day at the Pisgah and picking wild blueberries and huckleberries near the waterside. Suddenly, summertime seams not-so-distant, even though I’m covered in 2 feet of snow and ice.

What You'll Need

For the Crust:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes

1/2 cup ice water

For the Filling:

1 cup cinnamon plumcot preserves, strained (or fresh plums or pluots, peeled and diced mixed with 1 tsp of cinnamon)

1 cup wild blueberries, fresh or thawed from frozen

juice of half lemon (omit if you are using plumcot preserves)

¼ cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour

1 egg for the wash

⅛ cup raw sugar

1. To make the crust, combine the flour and salt in a large bowl or in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse or stir a few times to ensure the salt and flour are combined. Next, scatter the butter pieces over the flour. If you’re using a food processor, pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal. If you are doing this the old fashioned way, use two knives or a pastry cutter and “cut-in” the butter until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Next, pour the ice water over the flour mixture and toss with a fork until the dough comes together in one ball. Divide the dough in half, place in a tupperware container and refrigerate for at least one hour or up to overnight.
2. While the dough is resting, let’s make the filling. Combine the plumcots and blueberries and lemon juice (if you are using fresh plumcots, otherwise omit the lemon juice) in a large bowl and toss to combine. Sprinkle the brown sugar and flour on top and toss to coat the fruit. Set aside until you are ready to assemble your pies.
3. Next, in a small bowl, beat the egg with a fork until the yolk and white are thoroughly combined.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
5. Now it’s time to assemble the pies. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out until it is about ¼” thick. Using a biscuit cutter, cookie cutter, or even the rim of a cup, press firmly into the dough and lift up the resulting shape. Be sure to make your cut-outs as close as possible. You only want to re-roll the dough one more time. If you roll out the dough more than twice, it will get gummy and the texture of your crust will suffer.
6. To assemble the pies, place one shape in front of you. Dollop about a tablespoon of the filling on the cut-out. Place another cut-out on top of the filling and using the tines of a fork, gently fresh around the edges to seal the pie and pierce the top of the pie with the fork. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash over top and sprinkle with raw sugar.
7. Place the pie on the prepared cookie sheet and repeat until you have used all your dough, or filling (whichever runs out first).
8. Bake the pies for 30 minutes until golden brown on top. Let cool for 10 minutes and serve with French Vanilla or Bourbon Butterscotch Ice Cream.

Yield: sixteen 3” pies