what, a recipe? an actual post? yep: french toast

It's almost that time of year again:  college children staggering home for a good, long break after surviving finals week and dreaming of all the good food available at any time of day or night in their spacious and cozy homes.  The short Thanksgiving break is just a tease.  The specter of papers and exams hangs over them the whole time and sometimes that even keeps them home with their laptops humming.  Sometimes those laptops are merely playing all the television shows they've missed.  But winter break is a clean finish, clean start.  Nothing hanging over their little smart heads.  Lots of sleeping in and catching up.  

And it's on that note that I give you a very easy recipe for a very easy breakfast classic, french toast.  When your children sleep in even you don't have to get up early to make french toast.  Of course if you stay up with them and sleep in like they do you find yourself with a really short day wondering where all the time went.  The fact the sun sets around five o'clock in the evening just adds to the not so magical disappearance of your daytime hours.  The good news is that even before it's Christmas Day, we are slowly gaining daylight.  Thank goodness, since every year I come perilously close to buying one of those "happy" light boxes.

This, one would assume, is our last winter break for the four of us.  With any luck Miss Kelly will be gainfully employed in the PR world this time next year.  If you see me at lulu or at the store or the yoga studio and I looked a little freaked out/exhausted/whatever please remind me to push through and take the time to enjoy it.  That's all I can write about that.  Truly.  It's a bittersweet thought and I'm going to have to let it go for my well-being.

You do not need children to make french toast.  Heck, some evenings if it's just me at home I've been known to make a little batch of pancakes for dinner.  Breakfast for dinner, never gets old.  I like to buy a loaf of challah bread or if I'm feeling really flush, brioche for our french toast.  Honey challah is my absolute favorite for this recipe.  Trader Joe's usually has challah if you don't have a nice local bakery.
Enjoy!

mmmmmm.....


French Toast

6 1-inch thick slices of day-old bread (sweet egg breads are yummiest)
3 eggs
1/2 tsp salt, optional
1 1/2 T cinnamon
2 T sugar
1 C milk
butter for the pan

If your breakfast eaters aren't up yet, heat your oven to 200 degrees to hold the french toast.  Completely optional, but if you let it get cool it's just not as delicious from a texture standpoint.

In a 2 C measuring cup or medium bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, salt (if using), cinnamon and sugar.  Place bread slices in a baking dish so they lay flat.  Pour the milk mixture over the bread to evenly coat.  Let sit a few minutes and then turn bread to let the other side soak in the milk for a few minutes.  Heat a flat griddle pan over medium heat.  Melt about 1/2 T of unsalted butter in the pan swirling to coat the bottom.  Place as many slices of soaked bread as will easily fit on the pan and cook over medium to medium high heat for about 4-5 minutes until lightly browned.  Turn and brown the other side (maybe another 3-5 minutes).  Place french toast slices on a baking sheet and place in oven to keep warm while you cook the remaining slices.  Serve with syrup, powdered sugar, fruit compote or whatever you like.

ingredients

turned and soaking up the milk mixture on the other side

stacked up and ready for the griddle

so pretty, I had to add it in again at the end
a pretty plated picture would have been nice, but hunger got in the way

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