Challah Cinnamon French Toast

Ah, french toast. Warm, toasty, French. Well, maybe, maybe not. I don’t know if French toast actually originated in France. Don’t care, actually. All I know is that it tastes good. I just finished wolfing down a portion in a most unladylike fashion. I did restrain myself enough to not lick the leftover syrup off the plate.

2/3 cup of milk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla (I use alcohol-free)
cinnamon sugar mixture (optional)
four thick (3/4″) slices of challah bread

Heat up a large skillet or griddle to medium (about 325 on a griddle). Crack two eggs in a bowl, add milk, salt, and vanilla, and whisk to break up the eggs very well. Pour this mixture into a shallow dish – I just used a small frying pan but you can use a cake pan or pie pan. Put one piece of challah in the batter. Count to ten to allow it to soak up the liquid; flip and repeat. Pick up the bread carefully by a corner and allow to drain into the dish. Be careful! The bread is wet and may try to fall apart. I usually hold it gingerly with my fingertips. When it has drained, put it into the heated nonstick skillet or on the griddle which has been buttered or sprayed with cooking spray (I used cooking spray). If you have room for all four pieces, continue until they are all in the pan. I used a pan that could fit two or three pieces so I did mine in stages. Allow to cook for about two to three minutes on one side. While the first side is cooking, sprinkle the tops with a cinnamon sugar mixture. This is optional but I really like the taste, and it’s better than putting cinnamon in the batter because it tends to float on the top of the batter and get completely taken up by the first piece of bread, leaving the other pieces deprived and depressed.

When the first side is browned, flip to cook the other side for another two to three minutes. Remove from heat, place on plate, top with a dab of butter, then syrup. Add berries or bananas or whatever you like, and DIG IN!

Why challah? Well, challah is a rich egg bread. It holds together well and the inside has an almost “custardy” consistency when it is done. If you like a drier French toast, you can cut the bread a bit thinner or use a different type of bread. It depends on your personal taste and you can fiddle with this recipe as you like.

Bil hana wa shifaa!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.