Fall French Toast

This morning I slept later than usual so by the time I rolled out of bed it was time for brunch. And what food says brunch better than some French Toast? I’ve only ever attempted french toast once before, and even though my sweet husband ate it gratefully, it was, admittedly, a flop. How was I supposed to know you’re supposed to bake french toast!? It ended up being soggy in the in the middle. Not the yummy slightly undercooked pancake soggy either. It was more wet than gooey if that gives you an idea…

But, I never give up and I certainly couldn’t let Daniel think I was incapable of making one of the most popular breakfast foods on earth. This time, I actually looked up a recipe online for easy french toast. I just googled French Toast and Alton Brown’s recipe on the Food Network was the first link that popped up, and I must give credit where credit is due: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/french-toast-recipe/index.html

Below is how I modified it to make it “fit” for fall. And I cut the recipe because I didn’t need to make 8 pieces.

Fall French Toast

Day old baguette sliced lengthwise into 4 pieces (use whatever bread you keep on hand)

1/4 cup half&half and 1/4 skim: if you don’t use half/half regularly, just use whatever milk you have on hand

1 whole egg and 2 egg whites*

1 tbsp honey

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch pumpkin pie spice (optional)

pinch ground cloves (optional)

1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Warm honey in microwave (about 10 seconds). Mix all ingredients except butter, then dredge bread in mixture, letting each side soak in all of the goodness. Place on cooling rack to let excess run off. Heat skillet to medium then add half the butter and 2 pieces of bread until golden brown on both sides. Repeat with rest of bread. place bread directly on oven rack (unless it’s too flimsy) and bake for 5-10 minutes depending on thickness of your bread. Mine took 9 minutes with 3/4 inch, dense bread.

I served the toast with some raspberry jelly and a drizzle of honey, which is great for metabolism. Just use in moderation since it has a high sugar content.

*A large egg with the yolk is about 70 calories and 4 grams of fat compared to 25 calories and 0 fat for just the whites. You do the math, that’s pretty big savings! Yolks contain the cholesterol and whites contain the protein just in case you were still on the fence…