French Toast: Recipe

Nothing says, "Dude, you're awesome," like a plate of homemade French Toast. Make it tomorrow morning for someone you love... or heck, make it for yourself. I made some for myself this morning, and it was absolutely delicious. And it did make me feel totally awesome.

French toast is a vegetarian dish, but it does use eggs and milk. I'm also offering a delicious vegan version, right after the traditional one.

You can use just about any bread, but of course the better quality bread you use, the better French toast you'll have at the end. A crusty French or country loaf is my personal favorite. Brioche or raisin challah are superb. And don't worry if the bread is a couple days old, hard or even almost stale. This is what French toast was invented for: to make use of old bread. That's why the French themselves call this dish "pain perdu" or forgotten bread.

Traditional French Toast

2 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup milk, half-and-half, or (if you've been REALLY awesome) cream
4 slices bread
Powdered sugar
Butter for the skillet

1. Whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon together in bowl or pan that's also large enough to hold the bread. Stir in the milk.

2. Put the bread into the mixture and let it soak up the goop. If your bread is very old this may take a few minutes. Just keep turning it every now and then until it's good and wet.

3. Heat the skillet over medium heat. Add about a tablespoon of butter, coating the bottom of the skillet, then brown the French toast well on both sides.

4. Put the "pain perdu" on a plate, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with your best strawberry jam and organic maple syrup. Awesome.


Vegan French Toast

4 slices bread
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1. Use a pastry brush to coat each side of the bread with about a tablespoon of maple syrup. Stack the slices on a plate and let the syrup soak in, turning (carefully, it can be messy) and adding more syrup to make sure they're coated thoroughly.

2. Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat then add the bread and grill on both sides until golden brown.

3. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with strawberry jam.