Monday, February 22, 2010

Lock Down French Toast



Ok. So I decided to declare Sundays French Toast Day.  My boyfriend LOVES french toast (sometimes more than me), and I love him so......I dug out and dusted off my Bitchin Kitchen cookbook and found this recipe for Lock Down French Toast and it looked simple enough, so I gave it a try.  The verdict- it may just become a once a week staple in our house.

The cookbook calles for a vanilla bean.  Let me just tell you that vanilla beans are expensive, and extremely hard to find.  I ended up paying $5 for 2 beans at Hy-Vee.  Sheesh!  But vanilla beans are really fun to work with (to get the beans out cut your vanilla bean lengthwise.  Scrape seeds out with your knife.  They look like coffee grounds and are really sticky so they clump together. Mix well to distribute in your mixture) , they smell amazing, and add great flavor so it was worth it.  They also add pretty homemade like flecks to the french toast.  My heart sank a little when I threw out the first empty vanilla bean shell ( 5 bucks, are you kidding me?!), so I googled things to do with an empty vanilla bean shell and I came up with this:  Vanilla Sugar.  Who wouldn't appreciate vanilla flavored sugar?!  And it's super easy to make.  Here's what you do.........

Vanilla Sugar
1 vanilla bean
2 cups of sugar
Dry empty vanilla bean shell on windowsill overnight.  Place sugar and vanilla bean in an airtight container.  Seal up and give it a good shake.  Put sugar container in a dark cupboard for 2 weeks, shaking occasionally.  Discard vanilla bean after the 2 weeks are up and voila!  Vanilla Sugar.

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