#2 Homemade French Toast

I'm a morning person. I love the morning and I LOVE breakfast. To sit down with a cup of coffee and a hot breakfast seriously is one of my favorite moments of the day. Call me crazy if you want, but after you try this tasty recipe you may too become a morning person, at least once in a while.

Homemade French Toast (from colleague Elizabeth Villwock)

Ingredients:

6 slices sturdy French or sourdough bread, about ¾ inch

thick (I actually just used whole-wheat bread that I had on hand)

1 ½ cups whole milk (I used "leche light" - light milk)

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon grated orange zest (ummm, I omitted this)

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Powdered sugar for dusting

Steps:

1. In a large baking dish, place the bread slices in a single layer.

2. In a large glass measuring pitcher, thoroughly whisk together the

milk, eggs, vanilla, sugar, orange zest, nutmeg and salt. Pour evenly

over the bread and let stand for 1 minute, then turn the bread

over. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and let stand for at least 10

minutes or for up to 30 minutes.

3. Place an ovenproof platter in the oven and preheat to 200 degrees.

In a large frying pan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the

butter. When the butter has foamed and the foam begins to subside,

as many slices of bread as will fit in the pan without overlapping.

When the slices are golden brown on the second side, about 2

minutes longer for custardy French toast, or about 3 minutes longer

for drier French toast.

4. Transfer the finished slices to the platter in

the oven. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and repeat with

the remaining bread slices. Transfer the French toast to individual

plates, dust the tops with powdered sugar and serve at once with

maple syrup.

Buen Provecho!