French Toast Holiday Edition
French Toast is the best breakfast staple when it comes to competing with pancakes, waffles, or the dreaded crepe! You cannot convince me otherwise. I think it was my dad that instilled a love of French toast in my blood and to give it a holiday spin by using eggnog (which he loved as well). Give this French Toast Holiday Edition a try on Christmas morning and you will see that it is pretty simple to put a smile on everyones faces!
The Basics
From Prep to Completion 20 minutes
Temperature Warm off the stove
Servings 5 (2 slices per serving)
WhenIt Is Done Cooked to a golden brown. Still thick and fluffy with a hint of crispy.
Pair With
Variations Replace the eggnog with whole milk or cream and add a dash cinnamon and nutmeg. Serve it with a fruit compote such as blueberries, or with a fresh sliced banana and maple syrup. As always you can dust with confectioners sugar.
A Little Bit About: French Toast
French toast, or eggy bread if you are across the pond, is an incredibly easy recipe to make and adapt. All you need is milk, eggs, butter, bread, and a frying pan. From there you can make your adjustments to suit your fancy! You can add sugar, or vanilla, some spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, or even clove. Milk can be replaced with cream, and of course you can choose whatever bread you like.
We wanted to showcase a local dairy, and throw in a holiday adaptation, so South Mountain Creamery is the eggnog we chose because of the wonderful milk products they produce. We are always well pleased when we find a local creamery that offers an abundance of delicious items! Give them a try if you are in the area.
Lastly, there are plenty of people on the internet who have no idea what they are talking about, and those are the same people who say to use any other bread besides thick cut BRIOCHE!!! It is an absolute game changer. You will never go back to lame ole' bread. So splurge a little with the grocery budget and get the good stuff over at the bakery. You will not regret it.
Find a local creamery and see what they offer. Eggnog from cows just down the road is always the best!! Thanks ladies! (cows and chickens)
French Toast Holiday Edition overhead shot
Teaching Moment
French Toast with Fresh Bread
Don't get me wrong, fresh brioche bread will taste absolutely delicious in this French Toast Holiday Edition recipe, but you will see a sadness in your bread. They will come off the pan beautiful but within minutes they will deflate and lose all of their fluffy golden brown character.
French Toast with Day Old Bread
Bread left out over night to get partially stale before cooking the next morning is the best option. As you can see from the image below, the top toast has sunken in the middle and the bottom keeps it integrity. Again, they both will taste delicious but texture and volume add to the perfection of this recipe. So do not skip this step, especially if you are hosting. So cut and leave out to dry overnight!
Making the Time
As a husband and a father of two toddlers, I totally understand that making the time can be difficult, especially Christmas morning when presents are waiting to be ripped open. However, this is the tradition that Ziba and I have put into place to help with the pace of the day. Sleeping in is a must. Then we get up, fry fresh donuts, and then open presents. We enjoy the build up, anticipation, and quality time together that is not just focused on stuff.
Now I know this recipe is for French Toast, so you can just replace the donuts with this recipe and have a wonderful time making something with everyone involved and changing the atmosphere of your home as you relax during this sometimes stressful season. However, if that is impossible, make this recipe a day ahead and freeze each piece of French Toast in between parchment and just pop them into the toast when it is time for breakfast. We do that through out the week and they hold up perfectly.
Mise en Place:
Read the recipe first | Lay out your ingredients | Prepare your tools | Start cooking
French Toast Holiday Edition
French Toast Holiday Edition
servings: 5 time: 20min difficulty: easy
French Toast Holiday Edition just makes everyone happy. It is sweet and delicious and can be enjoyed with just about every local fruit you can get your hands on. Do not miss out on this recipe. Get the ingredients and add it to your menu, you will surely be impressed!
French Toast
1 loaf of Brioche Bread, cut into 10 slices left out over night to stale
4 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup eggnog, from South Mountain Creamery
5 tbsp butter, unsalted and melted
Spiced Apples
4 tbsp butter, unsalted and melted
1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground
1/8 tsp nutmeg, ground
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 apples, peeled, cored, and diced, save some of the peel
Serving
Maple syrup
confectioner sugar
sprig of mint
lots of bacon
French Toast: Start with a non-stick skillet and melt 5 tablespoons of butter, set aside to cool. In a dish, whisk your eggs and eggnog. When butter has cooled slightly, slowly drizzle and whisk into your egg mixture. The mixture should come out like liquid velvet. **If you notice your butter has started to solidify just keep moving forward with the recipe, it won't negatively affect it**
Heat the same skillet you used to melt the butter in to medium heat. Dip a piece of thick cut 1 day stale brioche bread into your milky egg mixture, front, back, and sides and gently set into your pan. Roughly cook for 2 minutes per side and repeat until all pieces of bread have been cooked. Place on an oven safe plate and place in the oven to keep warm until ready to serve with the your spiced apples.
Spiced Apples: In a medium sauce pan on medium heat melt and brown your butter. Stir in your spices. Next, add your maple syrup and apples (I like to include the apple peel as well as it releases tasty flavor and pectin) and cook for 2-5 minutes in your spiced butter until your desired firmness is reached. We usually cook them around 2-3 minutes as we enjoy a bit of a soft crunch.
What to Consider
If you do not have eggnog do not worry, just replace it 1:1 ratio with whole milk, half and half. Then add in 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, 1/8 tsp of nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.