Happy New Year friends!

If my 2017 is as good as the breakfast I started it off with then I should be in pretty good shape.

You must try this Cinnamon Toast French Toast soon. Layers of cinnamon toast are baked in a vanilla scented custard. It’s all at once crisp and creamy with the wonderful scent of cinnamon. Bonus: You can assemble it all the day before and pop it into the oven the next morning. I doubled the recipe and made two baking dishes full…good thing since everyone wanted seconds.

Cinnamon Toast French Toast

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
16 slices (from a 1-pound or 450 gram loaf) white sandwich bread
4 ounces (113 grams) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups (710 ml) whole milk
6 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
Fresh berries and maple syrup, to serve

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450℉.

2. Whisk the cinnamon and sugar together in a small dish.

3. Line two large baking sheets with foil.

4. Place the bread slices on the baking sheets in one layer. Spread each slice of bread with some butter, then sprinkle each slice with one teaspoon of the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

5. Toast the bread in the oven until it’s golden and the cinnamon-sugar is crunchy, about 7 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.

6. Reduce the oven temperature to 375℉ degrees.

7. Grease a 9 × 13-inch baking dish.

8. Cut two slices of the cinnamon toast in half horizontally. Arrange the cinnamon toast down in two rows along the width of the pan. Begin with the bottom half of one slice of toast, then fan 7 more slices in a row, finishing with the top half of the slice. Repeat with another 7 full slices and 1 halved slice of cinnamon toast in the second row. (Deb does this so that all of the slices get evenly crisped. Her arrangement also looks really pretty. I followed these instructions, but no matter how you stack them, the baked product is going to be delicious.)

9. Whisk the milk, eggs, salt and vanilla in a medium bowl and pour evenly over cinnamon toast in baking dish. Let sit for 15 minutes. Note: At this point you can cover and refrigerate overnight to bake the next day.

10. Before baking, sprinkle bread slices with any leftover cinnamon-sugar.

11. Bake for 30 minutes (a little longer if you refrigerated overnight), until puffed and golden and custard is set up.

12. Cut into squares and serve plain or with fresh berries and maple syrup.

Serves 8

Recipe from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

Ok 2017…we’ve got this. Especially when there are songs like “New Year New Day” to get us started. It is a gorgeously retro tune from Liverpool’s Rob Clarke And The Wooltones.

“It’s a new year
and a new day
Here we go”

Check out Rob Clarke And The Wooltones on the band’s Website. You can buy their music on Bandcamp.

Cheers!