Crunchy French Toast: An Experiment

Since I started teaching full time in August, I've really grown to appreciate the weekend. I've always loved Friday afternoons and all they promise, but it's a totally different ballgame now that I spend 10+ hour days with over one hundred college freshmen.

This Friday started with a cleansing nap and ended with dinner and dancing. Saturday saw brunch, a teacher meeting (I know, right?!), and pumpkin carving. And Sunday... well... this Sunday, like most, is all about Amanda.

So I slept until 11:12am. And I didn't even think about sitting up in bed until I knew exactly what I was making myself for Sunday brunch.

Crunchy French Toast with Peaches


I've wanted to try this french toasting experiment since I bought this Shredded Wheat a week or so ago. I was swayed by the vintage packaging, but... in reality... plain shredded wheat doesn't have a lot of flavor. I settled on a peach topping because I ate one of my peaches yesterday, only to find it wasn't as soft and perfect as I wanted it to be. Cooking the other one down just seemed like the natural response.

For this experiment, I needed...


(Not pictured: sugar, very necessary cup of coffee, Pandora "Folk FTW" station, photo staging/cropping skillz)

All the troops assembled, I...


sliced up the peach...


pulverized the shredded wheat...


cracked two eggs and beat them up about a tablespoon of half and half and a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste.


Then I stewed the peach in some sugar (didn't measure) and a little bit of water to get things going.


I dipped bread in egg, coated it in shredded wheat, and fried it up in a skillet over medium heat.


While I was super excited about the prospect of a crunchy French toast (which I got), I didn't really think about the fact that adding one flavorless crunch to a fairly bland French toast would yeild a... ya know... somewhat blah French toast that just so happens to crunch a bit.


Enter peaches... The syrupy peaches were the perfect counterpoint to the rock steady toast. I ended up adding syrup to the whole deal (don't judge), but in the future, I'll double the vanilla in the egg mixture and stew more peaches to step up the peach influence.

This shredded wheat technique could also be nice when paired with a stuffed French toast that would bring it's own flavor in a filling.

Overall, I'm pleased with how Sunday is going so far. My legs are happily sore from Friday's dance-a-thon, my stomach is full of brunchy goodness, and my bed has already informed me that she wants me back.