*This post is brought to you by Little Northern Bakehouse.
Tomorrow is National Toast Day! A few weeks ago Little Northern Bakehouse reached out to me about collaborating on a toast project to celebrate National Toast Day. Their bread is gluten-free and vegan (woohoo!), a hard combo to come by, so I thought it would be a fun project to work on. I decided to make “melon pan toast.” Melon pan is a Japanese sweet bread that is covered in a thin crunchy cookie layer. It gets its name (melon) from the cross-hatched marks in the cookie topping, giving it the appearance of a melon. It doesn’t usually have a fruity, melon flavor. Melon pan used to be one of my favorite treats in Japan.
It just so happened that a couple of days after I was contacted by Little Northern Bakehouse, I was chatting with my friend Noriko and she told me about a toast that had been served as part of lunch at her kids’ elementary school—melon pan toast. Slices of bread topped with a cookie topping, like the traditional melon pan, then toasted. The school made a healthier (and simpler) topping by combining almond flour, sugar, and butter. After she told me about it, I knew this is what I had to do! Even better is the fact that it is naturally gluten-free, so I didn’t need to make any substitutions. That combined with Little Northern Bakehouse bread, and I was good to go!
I was super excited to try Little Northern Bakehouse bread, as it is hard to find a gluten-free bread that is also vegan and doesn’t have any weird flavors or textures. Little Northern Bakehouse knocked it out of the park! Super soft slices of bread with no weird flavors—perfect for making toast. Little Northern Bakehouse is dedicated to making healthier, gluten-free breads that don’t sacrifice in taste and texture with a lineup of plant-based, non-GMO products that are certified Glyphosate Residue Free, all displaying the Bio-Checked Non Glyphosate Certified seal. Many of their breads are 100% plant based and vegan. They can be found in the freezer section of the grocery store in most natural foods retailers. You can use their Store Locator to find a store near you that carries their breads.
I mixed almond flour, turbinado sugar (for extra crunch in the cookie topping!), and a cultured vegan butter together, which I then spread over slices of Little Northern Bakehouse Whole Grain bread, then popped them under the broiler for about 90 seconds, just until the edges of the bread started to brown. Then I pulled them out and let them cool. Super quick to make, but the results are amazing. The toast definitely has that melon pan flavor, but with a healthier approach and NO GLUTEN!!!! My daughters devoured their slices quickly and said that they wanted that kind of toast “everyday.” Melon pan toast was definitely the star of the afternoon snack plate!
P.S. Little Northern Bakehouse is hosting a National Toast Day sweepstakes on their Instagram page that runs through today. So head over to their page, @LittleNorthernBakehouse, to enter the sweepstakes for an opportunity to win a $1,000 gift card for “Brunch for a Year!”
Melon Pan Toast
A healthier toast version of melon pan, a Japanese sweet bread with a thin, crunchy cookie topping.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup almond flour
- 3 tablespoons turbinado sugar
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter, melted
- 2 slices Little Northern Bakehouse Whole Grain Bread
Instructions
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Mix the almond flour, turbinado sugar, and melted vegan butter together in a small bowl.
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Divide the mixture in half. Spread 1/2 of the mixture on each slice of bread, making sure it is evenly spread. Use the sharp edge of a bench scraper to press into the cookie topping and create cross-hatch marks in the topping.
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Put the slices of bread on a baking sheet under the broiler for about 90 seconds, or until the edges of the bread start to brown.
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Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the melon pan toast cool slightly. Serve warm.
*Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Little Northern Bakehouse, who provided product and monetary compensation for my work in developing this recipe, the photography, and writing of this post. All thoughts and experiences are my own.
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