The Secret to French Toast

I wish someone had to told me this simple trick to making french toast. I came across a Portuguese french toast recipe that included sugar, vanilla and milk. (By the way, french toast is not a French food, neither are french fries, sorry to break it to you.) I had tried french toast variations with milk and vanilla before but why the heck hadn't I thought of sugar? It makes perfect sense; the sugar crystallizes, making a beautiful and delicious crust. Though this is a sweet dessert in some countries, and salty and savory in others (can you imagine topping it with mayo! ew), in America, we top it with syrup, sugar, and eat it first thing in the morning! As it should be... until I'm proven wrong.


French Toast
Serves 4
Prep and Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
4 eggs
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
12 slices of bread (preferably day old)
butter
dash of cinnamon
maple syrup

Directions
1. Beat together eggs, sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla in a shallow bowl.

2. Heat butter on medium heat in a pan.

3. Dunk each side of the bread in the egg mixture and place on the pan. You'll most likely need to do this in batches if you don't have a pan that can hold 12 slices of bread. Only dunk the bread in the egg mixture just before you place it on the pan.

5. Sprinkle some cinnamon on one side of the bread before flipping.

5. Cook until it's light-medium brown on each side. Add more butter if needed.

6. Top with syrup (and powdered sugar if you like) and serve!

Biscuits

My first time making biscuits and unfortunately I forgot to add the baking soda which meant these were pretty flat, but still delicious! The second time around I made sure not to forget this key ingredient. Both times the bf and I ate them in one sitting with jams, so baking soda or not these biscuits are a great way to start the day. You can also add ingredients to the biscuit recipe such as green onions, bacon, or herbs. This recipe is adapted from another recipe I found, but without the green onions.
Interesting factoid, biscuits have been around for centuries, usually made dense, dry, and unsweetened. But around the 7th century AD, the  Persian empire started experimenting with the basic recipe by adding eggs, honey, spices, and cream. Have I mentioned that I'm Persian? Go Persians!
In addition, biscuits were very valuable to travelers and sailors because of it's long shelf life.

Biscuits
Recipe adapted from Baking Bites
Makes 10 biscuits
Prep and Cook Time: 30 min.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1 cup sour cream


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (optional).

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar

3. Add butter to bowl and rub into flour mixture with your fingertips until mixture resembles very coarse sand. The average piece should be about the size of a pea. 

4. Stir in sour cream until dough is moistened, then turn out on to a lightly floured surface and lightly knead until the ball comes together smoothly. Press dough out until it is 1/2-inch thick.

5. Use a 2 1/2-3 inch round cookie/biscuit cutter to cut rounds, then place on baking sheet. Dough can be gathered and rerolled once. You should get about 10 biscuits, depending on size of the biscuit cutter.

6. Bake for 20-24 minutes, until tops of biscuits are golden and sides are puffed and firm.
Cool on a wire rack before serving.