Crunchy French Toast

Looking at the menu plan in horror, I realized that the Baked French Toast I had planned for the next morning was just not going to happen.  Didn’t have the right bread.  Could make bread but it wouldn’t be the right texture since it would be fresh.  Didn’t really want to run to the store late at night.  Hmmm….what to do?    Go to bed and hope that the Baked French Toast Fairy would come.

She didn’t.  (True story.)

So that morning, after looking online for a jazzed up French toast recipe (that didn’t require overnight soaking!), I decided to just go rogue and make it up as I went along, using a few ideas I’d seen online.   I was quite pleased with the result!  Try it and see what you think.

Also, if you could tell that Fairy that she owes me a breakfast, I’d be much obliged.

Ingredients:
16 slices of bread
4 eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup skim milk
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
4 cups frosted flakes or plain corn flakes

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place aluminum foil in the bottom of two large baking sheets.  Place a large cooling rack into each pan.  Spray racks with nonstick cooking spray.
2.  Measure the flakes into a plastic food bag and use the bottom of a 1-cup measure to crush the flakes into small pieces.  Pour the crushed flakes into a bowl (make sure the bowl is wide enough to allow you to lay a piece of bread in it).
3.  Whisk together the eggs, cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.  One at a time submerge the bread into the egg mixture, lift it out, and use your fingers to gently squeegee off any excess.  Then place the dipped bread slice into the bowl of crushed flakes, pressing gently.  Flip the bread over and gently press the other side.  Then place each slice on the cooling rack.  Repeat this with all the slices, making sure to whisk well after ever two or three dippings (the sugar has a tendency to settle at the bottom and the cinnamon likes to float at the top).
4.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, flipping slices over halfway through the baking time.  Serve with butter and syrup and enjoy!

Notes:

• I used store-bought whole wheat bread.  Different breads will soak up the egg mixture differently and so may require more or less of the mixture.
• To promote more even cooking, I also rotated the position of the baking sheets halfway through the cooking time.  I just had them switch places in my oven.
• To check for doneness, I just poked the bread gently in the middle to see if it was still squishy (that’s the technical term).  It should be dry but still soft.