If you've been following my blog lately you may have noticed I'm on somewhat of a brunch binge. And there is no such thing as a brunch without french toast so I couldn't leave this out. It's funny, I've been making french toast ever since childhood so I've never actually looked at a recipe before, but I'm glad I got my hands on this one! Not only is this french toast really delicious, the batter smells so good! The combination of vanilla, bourbon and cinnamon is incredible. And it doesn't hurt to use some good brioche or challah, it really makes the best french toast. I still had half a loaf of brioche in the freezer from the baked eggs recipe, so all the trouble of finding this giant loaf is paying off. While this recipe is similar to what I usually make, I've never put this much milk in the batter, or cream for that matter, I think it works better with extra cream. And bourbon too! I hope you get a chance to make this recipe, it's really quite delicious.

Recipe below, enjoy!

Bourbon Vanilla French Toast
(Adapted from Brunch 100 Recipes from Five Points Restaurant)

Serves 4-6

1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup bourbon
Butter or neutral oil such as grape seed, corn or canola
8-12 thick slices brioche or challah
Maple Syrup, warmed

Set an ovenproof platter or a baking sheet (with a cooling rack on top of it) into the oven and set oven to 200°.

Combine the milk, cream, eggs, vanilla extract, vanilla pod and seeds, cinnamon and bourbon in bowl, whisk thoroughly, then pour into wide shallow dish.

Heat a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium-low heat for a minute or 2, grease the pan with a teaspoon of butter (or more). when the butter starts to sizzle turn the heat up a bit.

Dip the bread into the batter, lightly coating each side, then gently shake off any excess batter and put the battered bread directly into the preheated pan. Cook the french toast 5-6 minutes, flipping once or twice, until golden brown. Transfer finished batches of toast to the platter in the oven. Repeat with remaining bread slices, adding more butter as needed.

You can serve the french toast immediately or hold it up to 30 minutes without an major degradation in quality. Serve with warmed maple syrup.