The BEST French Toast ever!

What does it take to make killer French Toast? Let me tell you . . .but first, the back story.

When I was in high school, I worked as a cook at Perkins Family Restaurant. They had some great French Toast. If I remember correctly, they used Italian bread dipped in a batter that consisted of egg substitute, cinnamon and vanilla extract. Though their French Toast was good, it definitely left room for improvement.

I was playing around last year trying to make some really good French Toast and stumbled across what I thought was an original idea - using Kings Hawaiian bread. Don't Google it though - you'll burst my bubble.

Amanda loves sugar, so the goal was to make the sweetest French Toast known to man. She puts so much sugar on her fresh strawberries you'd think she thought they were supposed to be white! The secret about Hawaiian bread is that it's sweet. I've since learned that Challah (Jewish) bread, which is also made with eggs, makes a mean FT.

Without further ado, here's the batter recipe:

• Hawaiian or Challah Bread sliced 1" thick
• 1 egg per slice of French Toast, well beaten
  
• Vanilla
• Cinnamon
• Sugar (if needed)
• Milk (if you prefer . . .I don't use it)
  
• Orange Juice (for the adventurous, equal in part to the cinnamon)
  

That's it. I was surfing around and learned that it helps the texture of the finished product if you can leave the bread out overnight. It gives it a stale texture that stays more firm after being soaked in the egg batter.

When you're ready to cook, turn the burner on medium to medium-high, oil your pan like you would for pancakes or eggs and hang on! If you have enough oil in your pan, the edges of the toast should crisp up a bit as you cook.

Serve with butter & syrup or powdered sugar. Enjoy!