Challah Bread French Toast Topped with Corn Flakes

Ingredients:

This is, hands down, the best french toast recipe ever. People don't believe me when I tell them, but all it takes is one bite. So when you're having people over for breakfast, make this and you'll knock their socks off. You'll notice the recipe calls for a loaf of Challah, which is a jewish bread. You can get it at most bakeries, (even the grocery one most times), and it's pretty easy to make, too.

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into bits
8 large eggs
4 cups milk
2 tablespoons vanilla
2 tablespoons rum
1 loaf challah cut into 1-inch-thick slices and ends discarded
4 cups corn flakes
cinnamon sugar made by stirring together 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Step 1:

You are going to want to start the night before, and cut your bread into inch-thick slices, and let dry on a rack. In the absence of a rack, you can just stand them up. You'll notice I have two different kinds of bread, that's because I had 1/2 a loaf from dinner yesterday, and the bakery was all out so the other is just a crusty bread. It works well too, but nothing is quite like the challah for french toast.

Step 2:

First, let's make clarified butter. Clarified butter is unsalted butter with the milkfats removed. It has a more buttery flavor, plus it lasts for months in the fridge and will not burn when frying.

Take your butter, cut into pats, and melt in a small saucepan over low heat.

Step 3:

Once it's all melted, it will have a foam on top. These are whey proteins.

Step 4:

Turn off the heat, and skim those off the top with a spoon, and discard.

Step 5:

All the whey protein removed:

Step 6:

Next, put a strainer over a bowl, and lay some cheesecloth in it. I couldn't find my cheesecloth anywhere, so I used a dishtowel. It was of the same consistency, so it worked pretty well. Just don't use a fuzzy dishtowel.

Step 7:

Pour the almost clarified butter over the cheesecloth or towel.

Step 8:

This skims out the remaining milk fat.

Step 9:

Now, in a large bowl, mix together your eggs, milk, vanilla and rum. Whisk it up.

Step 10:

Pour into a baking dish or whatever you have large enough, and toss your bread in. Let it soak about 5-10 minutes on each side, until it's soaked up a good amount of the mixture.

It shouldn't be dissolving, but it should be mushy and kind of hard to handle. Feeling the crust is a good determinator of when it's ready. It should be about the consistency you expect french toast crust to be.

Step 11:

When it's ready, lay each piece into a bed of corn flakes, press down a bit, and turn over to coat.

Step 12:

Coat on the other side:

Step 13:

Corn Flakes on french toast? I know, it sounds crazy, but it will give your breakfast an incredible texture. Now sprinkle with your sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Step 14:

If you have a griddle, warm it to 300F. If not, heat your oven to 250F and get out the biggest skillet you have. Put your clarified butter in and cook each slice 3-5 minutes per side, and place in the oven to keep warm until they're all done. You'll know the doneness when they start to puff up in the middle.

You can see how much better the challah ones look, but they all tasted wonderful. Get some maple syrup, some delicious sausage links or bacon, and have the best french toast ever. Also, get real maple syrup, not Log Cabin or Aunt Jemimah, ok? It's not that much more and your tastebuds will thank you.