SpiceLines

A few pointers:

The recipe is really simple, though it looks like it would take the better part of a day to do it all.

So here’s the plan: The night before, set aside 20 minutes to make the raspberry vanilla jam and the vanilla crème. The next morning, you’ve got a few minutes of cutting out hearts—It’s fun! Just like going back to first grade!—and a few more minutes of pushing the toast around in bubbling butter.

Then comes the really hard work: slathering some of the French toast hearts with the jam and vanilla crème, and sprinkling all of them with powdered sugar.

Oh, the sacrifices we make for love.

I’m crazy about this recipe for French toast because it’s light and airy. The proportions for the delicate batter are taken from a recipe in Marion Cunningham’s The Breakfast Book: 1 egg to ¼ cup milk, either whole or 2 percent. No cream, please, or the batter will be too heavy. You can scale the ratio up as much as you like: the basic recipe makes enough for 8 hearts, so I doubled it for two people.

By the way, French toast is always easier to make with slightly stale bread, so if you're using a fresh loaf, open up the the package and leave it on the counter overnight.

About the vanilla: Do I have to mention that you must use the very best vanilla beans and real vanilla extract that you can find? I adore the Gaya Vai-Mex vanilla which I discovered in Veracruz a few years ago. The beans are plump and supple, and the extract is so sultry and spicy that I've been known to open the bottle for a secret sniff. In the U.S., you can sometimes find Gaya Vai-Mex at Melissa Guerra’s Tienda de Cocina. Neilsen Massey is another purveyor of high quality vanilla; it’s available at Williams Sonoma and other gourmet stores.

And the jam: It takes exactly ten minutes to make half a cup of jam from a 6-ounce box of fresh raspberries. Just do it. You cannot beat the flavor of homemade raspberry jam, and the vanilla bean imparts a perfume that is nearly intoxicating. (If any is leftover—quite unlikely—you can keep it in the refrigerator for a week.)

What to drink with French toast raspberry vanilla crème hearts? If you’re abstemious in the morning, a cup of plain tea—that is, no milk or sugar—is perfectly fine. Maybe a light Darjeeling or, for a straight shot of caffeine, a hearty Keemun.

Love elixir: Icy pink pomegranate vodka. To make, steep 1/2 cup fresh pomegranate seeds in 1 cup vodka for 10 days. Strain and store in the freezer.

But B and I love a thimbleful of icy pomegranate vodka with French toast, especially the raspberry vanilla crème heart “sandwiches.” Served in the most fragile wineglasses, this pale pink elixir is smooth, a little fruity and altogether seductive.

What’s that? You didn’t make any pomegranate vodka when you were snowbound a few weeks ago? A glass of very cold dry champagne will do nicely. You do have champagne on ice, don’t you?

Such a heavenly way to start Valentine’s Day. You may never make it out of bed…

Triple Vanilla Raspberry Hearts for Your Valentine

For the vanilla raspberry jam:

Makes 1/2 cup.

Ingredients:
6 ounces fresh raspberries (about 1-1/4 cups)
Scant ½ cup sugar
½ vanilla bean, split in half

Method:

1. In a small sauce pan, combine the raspberries, sugar and vanilla bean. Heat over a low to medium low flame until the raspberries and sugar liquefy. Gently simmer for 5 minutes, or until the mixture thickens slightly.

2. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature. Cover and leave at cool room temperature overnight.

For the vanilla crème:

Makes 1/2 cup.

Ingredients:
Scant 3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon flour
Scant ½ cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. In the bottom of a double boiler, heat an inch of water until it simmers. If you don’t have a double boiler, you can improvise by setting a metal mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. In either case, be sure that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl.

2. In a small saucepan, bring the milk almost to a boil. Remove immediately to a cool burner and set aside.

3. Off heat, in the top of the double boiler, or in the metal bowl if you are improvising, briskly whisk together the flour, sugar and egg yolks until the mixture is very smooth and light. Set the bowl over the simmering water and continue whisking until the mixture has thickened, about 3 minutes. If you dip a spoon into it, the mixture should not run freely off the tip; rather, it should slide off in thick globs.

4. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla to taste. Let the crème cool to room temperature and refrigerate overnight.

For the French toast:

To serve 2 people

Ingredients:

1 loaf firm, finely textured white bread, precut into thick slices (there should be about 16 pieces)
½ cup whole or 2% milk
2 large eggs
1 pinch salt
1 vanilla bean
2 to 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ cup butter

Method:

1. The night before, lay some paper towels on your kitchen counter and spread the slices of bread on top of them. Do not use the end pieces.

2. Also the night before, if you are using the vanilla bean (and I hope you will), whisk together the milk, eggs and salt in a medium bowl. Slit the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds into the bowl. Whisk briskly to incorporate the seeds into the batter. Some of them will clump together, but that’s OK. Add the bean itself to the mixture and pour into a plastic container. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

3. The next morning, remove the vanilla crème and the batter from the refrigerator. In a medium bowl, whisk the vanilla extract into the batter and set aside. Put the vanilla crème and the raspberry jam into 2 small bowls and set aside.

4. Using heart-shaped cookie cutters, cut out various sizes (see below) using as much of each slice of bread as you can. To get a clean edge, you will have to press the sharp edge of the cookie cutter down hard so that it cuts through the bread.

To make 4 vanilla crème-raspberry “sandwiches,” cut out 8 large hearts from 8 slices of bread. Set 4 of the hearts aside. Using a smaller heart-shaped cookie cutter, next cut out 4 small hearts from the center of the remaining 4 large hearts. (The idea is that once you’ve made the French toast, you’ll sandwich some vanilla creme and some jam between a whole heart and one that has a center cut-out, in effect "framing" a jam heart. Confused? See the picture at the top of this post.)

Reserve the small hearts that you cut out of the big hearts. With the remaining 8 slices of bread, cut out medium hearts. Discard the crusts, give them to the birds--or save them and make more French toast the next day!

5. To make the French toast, set the oven to 250 degrees.

Lay a long piece of parchment paper on the kitchen counter. Pour the milk and egg mixture into a shallow bowl or a deep plate with a raised rim. Lightly dip both sides of each heart into the mixture. Do NOT soak the hearts: Just dip each side quickly and evenly into the mixture. (Be careful not to break the large hearts with the center cut-outs.) Lay them out on the parchment paper.

In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over a medium to medium-low flame. When the butter is foamy but has not begun to brown, reduce the heat slightly and begin cooking the hearts in batches. Lightly brown each side for 1 to 2 minutes. As they are ready, remove the hearts to a cookie sheet with a spatula and place them in the oven to keep warm. Continue browning the remaining hearts in batches, adding a little more butter as needed. If necessary, reduce the heat to keep the butter from burning.

When all the hearts have been turned into French toast, make the sandwiches: Take the 4 large hearts and spread one side with a thin layer of vanilla crème. On top of that, carefully spread a layer of raspberry jam. Top each heart with a large heart with a center cut-out: The top heart should "frame" a red raspberry heart in the middle.

Divide the sandwiches and the other hearts between two plates, arranging them as you like. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve at once.