What do you call it when the lines at the grocery store are three miles long and the shelves are wiped clean of milk, eggs, and bread? It must be a SNOW DAY in Durham! I can’t remember the last time we got enough snow to cause Duke to actually cancel class… my sophomore year as an undergrad, we actually got a few inches and a ton of ice and we STILL had to go to class. I think they think we’re here to learn or something. Anyhooooooo, today I have no complaints. Classes canceled for the whole university, which means I get to stay in and BLOG!- er, I mean, be extra submissive and sacrificial by hand-feeding my wonderful husband delicious morsels while he works hard to make us money. 🙂
A view of my snow-covered Jeep from the upstairs office in our townhouse!
I love making brunch foods. And I love making Ben happy with yummy things. So when we woke up and I asked, “French Toast or Pancakes?” I was extra-pleased when he immediately answered “French Toast!” instead of the usual “ohhhh you don’t need to make me anything!”
So downstairs I clamored, anxious to please. And take pretty pictures!
I got a little inventive with this recipe to make up for the fact that we didn’t have the best bread for “french toasting”- ideally I’d want a crustier white bread that’s just a TAD stale to prevent the batter from making the bread fall apart, but I had to make do with what we had. (After all, we are snowed in. Good thing I got that extra bread, milk, and eggs yesterday!)
Snowed in, and only two ripe bananas left in the entire house (seriously, ya’ll, the bananas in this house disappear like hot cakes!). I needed to stretch those bananas! Instead of just topping the french toast with bananas after it’s cooked like I usually do, I decided to actually incorporate them into the recipe. But it didn’t seem like a good idea to put the bananas right in the batter, since I’d be dipping the bread and all the bananas would probably just slide off on the journey to the griddle. No one likes slidey-bananas. So instead, I decided to press the bananas and raisins right into one side of the toast while it was cooking, and while it was still “soggy” enough to be able to press right into the bread. I also decided to sprinkle a little more brown sugar and cinnamon on top, to (hopefully) result in a nice sticky caramelization when I flipped it!
The result was (almost) just what I’d hoped for! It was a bit difficult to flip the bread, but not so much because of the bananas falling out- it was more due to the fact that the sandwich bread I used got so moist when dunked in the batter that it wanted to fall apart when I was flipping. In the future, I’ll try using a crustier loaf. The caramelized bananas, though, were magical. They formed this beautifully thick, sticky glaze over one side, so that it was almost like cooking syrup right into the french toast!
Hope you enjoy your snow day, wherever you are!
- 6 slices whole wheat or day-old French bread (I only had regular Arnold multigrain, so it resulted in a bit more fuss and sogginess, but use whatever you have! I would recommend something that stays together better when dipped!)
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup milk (I used a combo of vanilla almond and regular 1%)
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 banana, sliced
- 1/4 cup raisins
- Extra cinnamon and brown sugar for topping
- 1 tbsp butter
- In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, milk, sugars, and cinnamon.
- Heat griddle to medium. When hot, add a small pat of butter, making sure that it melts (but not burns!). Spread to coat pan.
- Douse two slices of bread in batter, coating both sides. Gently shake excess and lay both slices on griddle.
- Gently press banana slices and raisins into the top of the bread. Sprinkle with additional brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Carefully flip bread and cook on the other side, 2 minutes.
- Flip again so that banana-raisin side is on top. The bananas should look nice and sticky!
- Remove from pan and place on plate. Keep warm in oven at 200 degrees while the remaining slices are cooking.
- Repeat with remaining slices of bread.
- Serve with a dollop of plain greek yogurt, a drizzle of honey, syrup, or (Ben’s favorite) peanut butter!
When is it not a good morning for french toast?
Claire Tastes 
french toast is something i only have as an occasional treat, but this batch looks outstanding! definitely don’t need a snow day excuse to eat it!
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