Almond French Toast

Since we love French Toast so much we decided to try another new variation! Almond French Toast has a few more steps then other versions so this recipe is for the intermediate Little Chef. The first step is to toast the almonds. In a small saucepan add the almonds and stir them frequently for 5 to 10 minutes. Ours took 10 minutes on medium heat.

The second step is to compile the dipping mixture. We like to start with the eggs only in a shallow dish. This way if my Little Chefs get any shells in they can easily be taken out. The second reason is so they can whisk the eggs a bit just so I know they will be mixed well and we will not end up with one whole egg not even broken up!

After a quick whisk the rest of the ingredients for the dipping mixture may be added and whisked well. I always laugh to myself when I type ‘whisk well’ or ‘mix well’ because I know what that means at my house….kind of well. No matter how much I try to suggest mixing more and more they usually don’t think it is necessary.

I know the recipe says use french bread, but we don’t regularly plan breakfast ahead of time and we don’t have french bread in our pantry ever so we used regular sandwich bread. It seems more realistic to our normal lifestyle. Little Chef D dipped each piece of bread in the mixture on both sides then placed them on a parchment lined baking sheet.

The baking sheet was covered and placed in the refrigerator for one hour.

Heat a large sauce pan and add butter and oil. Working with one slice at a time dip into the toasted almond slivers on each side then place in the hot pan. The nuts do not cover the entire piece of bread. The more slices Little Chef A did, the more sporadic the nuts became.

When they are brown and toasted flip and cook on the other side.

Dust with powdered sugar and/or maple syrup. We had every combination of syrup and powdered sugar at our table!

Overall the Little Chefs liked the results. However, we had a few problems with this recipe. The slivered almonds did not work so well. They were toasted first, but then when they crusted the bread and it was cooking in the saucepan the nuts were burning but the bread wasn’t fully cooked. We tried lowering the heat however, it took a lot longer to cook and the almonds still burned. I think next time I would use the sliced almonds, but I still worry they would burn.
I liked the almond and vanilla extracts in the dipping mixture. I did not think the extra effort of pre-dipping and placing in the refrigerator to rest paid off. If I made this again I think I would skip that step. Realistically when breakfast comes my Little Chefs just want to eat. They don’t want to wait for an hour and I don’t want to wake up an hour earlier! 

Almond French Toast
Source: The Princess from allrecipes.com

Ingredients
1 cup slivered almonds
3 eggs
1 cup milk
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
12 thick slices French bread – we used regular sandwich bread
3 Tablespoons canola oil
3 Tablespoons butter
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)

Directions
1. Place almonds in a small saucepan over low heat. Tossing frequently, toast until lightly browned, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, flour, salt, baking powder, almond extract, and vanilla. Soak bread slices in the mixture until saturated. Place slices in a shallow pan. Refrigerate slices approximately 1 hour.
3. Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Working with 1 slice at a time, press 1 side of soaked bread slices in the almonds to coat. Fry bread slices on both sides until golden brown. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving, if desired.