Crackling French Toast

Don't you just love waking up to the smell of French Toast? The smell of cinnamonny, warm, buttery bread...so comforting! I've taken the traditional recipe and twisted it to this crunchy, crackling version. I wanted to name this post 'French Toast Crème Brule', since I had the same technique in mind. Unfortunately, since I don't own a blow torch (and I'm guessing neither do you), I'm going for a 'crackle' at the top instead of a 'burnt' caramel on top. You see the golden bits in the picture below?

Makes enough for 1

2 slices of bread
2 tbsp cream
1 tbsp milk
1 egg
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Salted butter to fry

Optional:
A pinch of nutmeg
A pinch of cinnamon
1 tsp Grand Marnier

For the garnish:
3-4 strawberries
Chocolate sauce or ganache

Cut the crusts off the bread. I like mine with crusts et all so I skipped this step.

Tip: If you are making this for valentine's day or just want to splurge, I recommend you use Brioche instead of regular sliced bread. Trust me, it makes all the difference.

In a bowl whisk in all ingredients minus the bread, brown sugar and the butter.

Heat some butter in a flat bottomed pan. Dip the bread in the mixture. Turn the bread to ensure it soaks up the liquid evenly. Now 'fry' this in the buttered pan. Sprinkle the brown sugar on the top side of the toast. Once the bottom is golden brown flip over. The sugared top will face the heated pan now. The heat will melt the sugar and create caramelized bits on the toast surface. Remove from pan once both sides are golden brown.

As a alternate to this, if you have some time, I would recommend making caramel in a separate pan and spooning some over the top of the toast.

To serve, slice up strawberries and arrange to make a french toast sandwich. Drizzle with chocolate sauce.

Now how can you resist that?!

Instead of frying you can also pour the mix over the bread slices and bake them as a 'healthy' alternative.