Stuffed French Toast

A classic breakfast dish with a bit of a twist.  Here I use orange flavored cream cheese, but you could easily mix cream cheese with preserves of some sort or another if you wanted a different flavor.  The amounts are about right for the filling, but the amount of French toast this will make will vary based on the size of the bread and how well you fill it.

Bread, sliced 3/4" thick
Butter

Batter:
4 eggs
1/2 C half and half
1/2 C milk
1/2 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla
1 T sugar

Filling:
1 pack cream cheese, softened
zest of 1 orange
1 T sugar
2-3 T triple sec
pinch of salt

Mix the filling ingredients together and allow to sit for at least an hour to blend flavors.
Cut a pocket in the middle of each slice of bread and pack it with the filling (this is probably easiest done with a finger; a piping bag might work, but it's fairly thick filling).
Beat together the batter ingredients, then soak the filled bread slices, giving them about a minute a side.  While those are soaking, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium.
Place the soaked slices in the skillet and brown both sides.
Serve with maple or blueberry syrup.