Vegan Peanut Butter and Jelly French Toast Sandwiches

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I think I hit the jackpot. I have been wanting to make vegan french toast for a while now and figured the Virtual Vegan Potluck was a great excuse to give it a go (more on that below). Instead of eggs, the dipping mixture is almond milk and ground flax seed, with some vanilla and cinnamon. The flax seed acts like an egg, binding the milk to the bread and creating a slightly crisp outside.

I recommend using a hearty multigrain bread with a good crust since the bread soaks up the milk pretty quickly. I bought my bread on Friday and let it sit on the counter in a brown paper bag until I made this french toast on Sunday. I don’t think this step is a dealbreaker, but it does let the bread dry up a bit so it is not super soggy.

Now for the PB & J filling. I used natural (homemade) peanut butter and mixed it with some agave syrup so that it would melt better. If you have a really runny peanut butter you could probably skip this step. The jelly is made using raspberries, chia seeds, and any sweetener of choice. I used dry stevia, but you could use agave or maple syrup as well. The PB & J filling is warm and gooey sandwiched between the two soft and fluffy french toast slices. Since the filling is sweetened and makes its own sauce, you won’t really need to top your sandwich with syrup.

Of course, I topped my french toast with some very non-vegan whipped cream. Sorry! I had to since I had some heavy cream around that was going to go bad if I didn’t make something, and obviously my only option was whipped cream. Obviously, right?! You could easily top this breakfast with vegan coconut whipped cream or even fresh fruit.

Vegan PB & J French Toast Sandwiches
Serves 2.

French Toast
4 slices crusty multigrain bread
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
4 tablespoons ground flax seed
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt

Assembly
1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 packet stevia (or other sweetener)
2 tablespoons natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons agave syrup

1. Add the almond milk, ground flax, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt to a shallow bowl and whisk together. Let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk once more to combine after it has sat for a few minutes.
2. Heat a greased pan on medium heat until hot.
3. Individually dip bread slices into the mixture and flip around to coat completely. Don’t let it soak, just dip quickly to coat. Let any excess liquid drip off the bread before adding to the pan.
4. Add the bread to the pan and cook for a few minutes on each side until golden brown.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the raspberry chia jam by microwaving raspberries in a small bowl until warm. Mash the raspberries with a fork, add the chia seeds and stevia, and mix until combined. Let sit for about 5 minutes.
6. Mix the peanut butter and agave syrup together with a spoon or fork in a separate bowl until combined.
7. Spread half the raspberry chia jam and peanut butter sauce on one piece of bread and top with the other piece. Top with vegan coconut whipped cream or fresh fruit and serve immediately.

Nutritional Information
Serving Size: 1 sandwich (two slices of bread with filling) Calories: 597 Fat: 17.5 g Carbohydrates: 89 g Fiber: 14.7 g Sugar: 27.8 g Protein: 19.5 g

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Once I made the whipped cream I had so much leftover and nothing to use it with. I didn’t want to throw it out but I didn’t want it to go bad in the fridge either, so I did some research and learned that you can freeze cream, and therefore whipped cream. I’m going to assume this is the same for coconut cream.

You could use a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat, but I used a muffin tin to make perfect little circles. If using a muffin tin, spray it with nonstick spray and scoop a heaping tablespoon of whipped cream into each muffin tin. Freeze until hard (about 30 minutes) and then transfer the disks to a plastic bag. You may need to let it sit on the counter for about a minute so you can pop each circle out with a knife. Don’t let it sit for too long or you’ll be back to square one. You could use this whipped cream in your coffee or a hot chocolate, on oatmeal or pies, etc.

Beware of the not so pretty picture, but I wanted to show you how simple this trick is!

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I recently came across the Virtual Vegan Potluck, which is an event that occurs twice a year (this is the second year) in which vegan and vegan-friendly bloggers around the world sign up to post a vegan dish at the same time on the same day. It is as if we were all together having a massive potluck…but it’s virtual. Get it?!

Although I am not strictly vegan, I often eat vegetarian or vegan meals and I thought this was such a cool idea. This time around, there are 146 bloggers participating and you can click on the buttons down below to go to the previous or the next recipes in the lineup.

If you’d like to start from the beginning (I highly recommend checking out all the awesome bloggers and their recipes), head on over here.