Dear readers, I would never steer you towards bad food. I will admit, however, that some of my recipes happen to be a little better than others. The difference between “great” and “fan-freakin-tastic!” if you will. This recipe is FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC.
I had some leftover challah and I wanted to create a jazzed-up french toast recipe.
After a little bit of thought, I decided to incorporate raspberries, strawberries, cinnamon, brown sugar, almond extract and corn flakes. Sound a little odd? Don’t worry—I have a very specific plan in mind. Stay with me people …
Cinnamon-Sugar Crunch French Toast with Raspberry and Strawberry Syrup
You’ll need:
3, 1-and-1/2-inch thick slices of old challah, cut in half
5 eggs
1/2 cup milk
4 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon, divided
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 3/4 cup corn flakes, slightly crushed
2 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
Raspberry/Strawberry Syrup
1 cup mix of strawberries and raspberries
2 1/2 to 4 tablespoons sugar (add a tablespoonful at a time and taste—sweeten as desired)
First make the syrup—puree the fruits and sugar with a blender or food processor (take the stems of the strawberries. Sorry if that’s ridiculously obvious, but I can’t assume anything) and set it aside or throw it in the fridge until you plan to cook. Whisk the eggs, milk, almond/vanilla extract and one tablespoon of cinnamon in a shallow dish until thoroughly mixed.
Now mix the crushed corn flakes, softened butter, brown sugar and the rest of the cinnamon together to form a moist, crumbly topping.
Dip each challah slice in the egg mixture and then coat with the brown sugar mixture. I patted each side of the bread with a generous amount of the mixture and then put it directly in the pan to help the topping adhere better.
Cook in a skillet on medium-high heat for about a minute or two on each side. Use the spatula to lightly press down on the french toast.
If all goes according to plan, you should end up with a PERFECT piece of french toast. Not too eggy. Not soggy, yet perfectly soft and tender on the inside. A crunchy, toffee-like, sweet-but-not-too-sweet crust. Then comes the fruit syrup and you’ve officially died and gone to heaven.
What?? I told you this post was a boast.
I’m dying to hear if you all like this stuff as much as I do (Dave isn’t a very objective critic), so do yourself a favor: make this tomorrow and come back and rave about it in the comments section.
You’ll thank me later.
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