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French Toast

I've made French Toast for as long as I can remember. Back in the restaurant we added syrup to the batter to make it just that extra bit sweeter. Monet apparently used rum in his, and after a few times of doing it like that, I found myself making French Toast for about a dozen people up in the backwoods of Northern California. There was plenty of booze around, but no rum - so I used some Jack Daniels, and I've stuck with this recipe ever since.

For 6

Ingredients

5 Eggs
5 Glugs (5 or 6 T) of Maple Syrup (either real syrup, or Mrs. Butterworth)
¼ Cup of Milk or Cream
Healthy Splash (¼ + cup) Jack Daniels
12 Slices of Bread (I like Health Nut)
Butter
Powdered Sugar (for garnish)
Raspberries (for garnish)

Directions

Pre-heat your oven to 200°. This is so you can keep your French Toast warm as you're making it so everyone can eat at the same time.

With a fork, beat your eggs, syrup, milk, and Jack Daniels in a bowl until it's a consistent batter.

If you have a griddle, get it out, and set it to 375° - 400°. Otherwise, place a cast iron (or sauté) pan on the stove and set the flame to medium to medium-high. Or, if you're at a cabin without griddles or pans, you can use the iron top of the woodstove. But I digress.

Put 2 pats of butter onto your griddle or into your pan, and let it melt. While that's going on, dip a slice of bread into your batter, being sure to coat both sides of the bread. Drag it against the side of the bowl as you're taking it out to skim off any excess batter (you want to coat the bread, but you don't want to make flavored scrambled eggs around the outside of it). Lay the bread onto the griddle or into the pan. Depending on the size of your griddle/pan, you'll likely be able to cook 2 to 4 pieces at a time. If you are cooking more than 2 pieces, you'll want to add a little more butter to your pan.

The toast doesn't take long to cook - after about 3 minutes I ususally take a spatula and sneak a look at the underside of one of the pieces of toast. If it looks nice and brown and French toasty, it's time to flip it. If not, give it another minute or so.

Once you flip it, take and (carefully) touch it with your finger, to make sure the bread is somewhat firm, not all mushy from the eggs. If it's mushy, don't worry, you can always flip it again before putting it into your pre-heated oven.

The second side should only take a couple of minutes. Again, check for doneness by sneaking a look with your spatula.

If the bread was a little mushy when you first flipped it, flip it over again and let it cook for about a minute. Otherwise, take your French toast and layer it on an oven safe plate (or a pie dish, or a cookie sheet), and put it in your pre-heated oven.

Repeat the above steps until you've cooked all your bread. Note: you don't have to fully clean your griddle or pan between batches of toast - just a quick once-over with a paper towel to get rid of any excess butter and anything residual in the pan, and back on the heat and you're off and running.

Once you've cooked all your bread, you have the perfect opportunity to make some more coffee, have a quick cigarette, crawl back into bed for a few minutes, wake up guests - you're keeping the French Toast warm in the oven, and it'll be fine there for up to a half hour.

OK - time to plate. Either using an oven mitt or a dry, folded-over dishtowel, remove the plate you have in the oven with the toast on it, and turn off your oven. Cut all of your toast on an angle, so you get triangles. Lay 4 triangles onto each plate, and put a couple of pats of butter on top. Dust some powdered suger over the top of the toast and around the rim of the plate, and garnish the edges of the plate with fresh raspberries. Serve with extra maple syrup.