Chris's Old Fashioned French Toast

How many times have you heard, "Oh I make the best French toast", or "everyone always wants me to make French toast"?  The entire time you are thinking, "Yea, yea, yea, none of you have EVER had mine".  OK, well I am.  French toast has been one of my breakfast specialties for a long time. 

French toast is a lot of people's specialties.  I mean let's be honest here.  You add about anything you want for flavor and texture and all kinds of goodness.  Maybe I just use the secret correct measurements.  Think?  Yes, I am arrogant about mine, because it is mine.  If you are going to be arrogant about something at least be able to share it with others!

I make this for dinner, lunch, breakfast, brunch, after the bar closes, (jk) but you definitely could!  It is easy and seriously it is likely no secret, but I wanted to share even the easiest of recipes, because there are people out there, who have never made it.  I hope they pick my recipe to try for the first time!

This will make about 12 pieces of toast.  I use the Texas toast in a bread bag, not the frozen stuff. 

4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp. cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp. butter

Whisk all ingredients very well.  Heat your griddle or skillet and melt in 1 tbsp. butter.  Dip bread into egg mixture, flipping it a couple of times and place into your skillet.  Fry on medium until golden brown and flip, frying again until golden brown.

Serve with butter, syrup, or powdered sugar.  Maybe some sweetened, whipped, heavy cream?  Oh YES!

Peanut Butter and Honey Stuffed French Toast

This is one of my happiest accidents to date.  (Minus the less than stellar photo, my apologies for that).  What you are all being introduced to as Peanut Butter and Honey Struffed French Toast, started out as a fried Pb and J!  It goes something like this...

 

I wanted to try frying a peanut butter and jelly sandwich just for the heck of it.  I wanted it batter dipped, not breaded though.  I made my sandwich and we only had strawberry jelly.  I wanted grape.  So, having grown up on peanut butter and honey I thought to myself, "Self, how about using honey instead, it will be awesome".  So, sandwich is made.   I decide on my batter dip, and get it all mixed up.  Remember I only made one sandwich so I wanted to get it right the first time.  I put it in my oil, let it work its magic, took it out and waaaa laaaa.  Perfection.  Almost.  It wasn't crispy, I WANTED crispy.  My husband comes walking in and says, "OMGOSH you made stuffed french toast?".  OMGOSH...I DID!  That is how this was born.  The story was amazing, right?  NOT.  But just goes to show, no matter what you do, you can rarely screw up so bad something won't work.  So I made a couple more, we drizzled on a little syrup, dusted on some powdered sugar and here you have it. 

Now, could you bake this?  No, you can't.  Not my version anyway, not with the batter dip.  I think if you used more of a custard, it wouldn't be the same, at all.  They take seconds to fry and heck, why not, right?  If you like peanut butter and honey, this is your sweetest dream come true, I promise!  Oh and see how I cut mine?  In our house, that means love!!! 

For your sandwiches you will need:
Peanut Butter (crunchy or creamy your choice)
Honey (could also use jelly if you feel so inclined)
Bread (plain in a bag sandwich bread, any kind you prefer)

Batter: (enough for 2 sandwiches, or 8 pieces)
1/2 cup flour
1/2-3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Get your oil in a pan and  heat it to 350 degrees.  While that is happening...

Make your peanut butter and honey sandwiches.  Peanut butter on one side and honey on the other.  Use a bit more than you might normally use.  Cut into 4 pieces, however you wish.  You know how we cut a sandwich into 4 pieces at my house!

Dip each quarter into the batter.  Just make sure it is all covered, and let the excess drip off for a second.  Place into your oil and fry.  This will literally take 30-60 seconds per side.  It simply depends on the temperature of your oil.  You have nothing to melt, or cook so when you achieve the level of "brown" you want, flip and repeat!  Drain on paper towels and serve dusted with powdered sugar and maybe a little syrup!!

Enjoy these for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack!!! Kids will love it and so will YOU!

 

Your "happy accident, is my middle name"'chefwannabe