nutella & hazelnut stuffed french toast with maple butter

If a little gluttony is what you want, then this is what you need. If you can't deal with chocolatey, buttery, ooey-gooey and delicious, then this isn't for you. If you are at my house on a weekend morning, then you would witness a serious crime against the world of cooking. I become terribly lazy, and attempt to recover from my weekday oatmeal, which is overdose by the weekend. I sit around for good while, and then realize that I am overwhelmingly hungry, and it is an urgent manner. Quite often, there is at least a segment of a baguette lying around, and so I rush into action with a dollop of nutella on pieces of baguette, and continue merrily relaxing. It's simple, and good. But today, I thought it needed a little dressing up, something a little bit more involved. Perhaps something I could actually serve to another human being, and not feel completely embarrassed by it. I also felt compelled to find another use for my replication of Clinton Street Bakery's maple butter, which I had left in my fridge from last week's attempt at outdoing their pancakes. I was close with the pancakes, but the maple butter is pretty spot on. I started with a paska (any bread you can thickly slice), nutella, 2 eggs per slice of bread, and a couple handfuls of hazelnuts (1 tbsp per serving). Using a mini chopping food-processor, I chopped up the hazelnuts. It made about 1/2 cup. I carefully toasted the hazelnuts in a non-stick frying pan, on medium-low heat. Be careful to stir occasionally, and have a dish ready to transfer the hazelnuts to once they are brown! The tasty toasted hazelnuts. Maple butter is absurdly delicious on pancakes or french toast. Also use a ratio of 2:1, for example, a 1/2 cup of butter to a 1/4 cup of maple syrup. Place both in a glass bowl or measuring cup in the microwave for no more than 20 seconds. Stir vigorously, with a fork, until the butter and syrup are combined. Allow to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving, and let it sit for longer (or refrigerate) if it is too runny. The resulting mixture should be somewhat thick. It is fun to dip pieces of pancake straight into it! You can use any bread, but make sure you can slice it quite thick. Using a small serrated knife, create a "pocket" in each slice. This is where the nutella and hazelnut treasure will go! Once you have inserted the pocket in each slice of bread, start by using a spoon to sprinkle about a tablespoon of toasted hazelnuts inside. Then, with another spoon, place roughly another tablespoon of nutella inside; push on the spoon with one side of the bread to remove the nutella from the spoon. In the same nonstick saucepan use to toast the nuts, heat some butter on medium-high heat, until it foams. Place the french toast to be in a little beaten egg bath. Each slice of bread will take approximately two eggs. Let it soak a few seconds per side. Cook each side until beautifully golden brown. Serve with sliced bananas, and be generous with the maple butter! Enjoy until the very last bite!