On a recent visit with my goddaughter Piper and her sisters Alden and Reilly, the girls surprised me one morning by making me their favorite version of French toast for breakfast – a “crunchy” French toast coated with corn flakes (actually a Corn flakes like cereal with dried blueberries in it) and baked in the oven. The three sisters, ages 4, 7, and 9, did everything to prepare this meal, while I sat astounded, watching them, lifting not a finger to help. These little French toast squares were actually quite good, especially with butter and real maple syrup. The recipe comes from a book they received for Christmas – Kitchen for Kids
Crunchy French Toast Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 or 3 slices of bread, cut into quarters
- 1 cup cornflake cereal
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
- 2 drops of vanilla
- Butter and pancake syrup
Method
1 Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.
2 Put the bread pieces on a lined baking sheet into the warming oven (it does not need to be at full temperature) to toast lightly for 5 minutes. Cool the bread completely.
3 Seal the cornflakes in a heavy plastic bag. Crush them with a rolling pin to the size of rolled oats. Pour into a pie pan or a shallow dish. Set aside.
4 In a large bowl, whisk to mix the eggs, milk, flour and vanilla until blended. Be sure there are no lumps of unmixed flour. Pour into a pie pan or shallow dish. In batches, lay the bread pieces in the egg mix. Soak about 1 minute on each side in the egg mixture. Be careful not to rip the bread.
5 Place the bread pieces in the cornflake crumbs. Coat both sides with the crumbs. Place on the lined baking sheet.
6 Bake at 400°F for 10 minutes on one side. Then flip over with tongs or a spatula and bake another 5 to 10 minutes, until the crumbs begin to turn brown. Eat warm with butter and pancake syrup.
Yield: Makes 2 or 3 servings.
Piper, Alden, and Reilly enjoying their crunchy French toast
Adapted from a recipe in Kitchen for Kids: 100 Amazing Recipes Your Children Can Really Make
