Crunchy maple french toast with maple-whiskey butter
Alcoholic beverages
When I was growing up, my mother used to make special weekend breakfasts -- eggs, waffles, pancakes or French Toast. These were leisurely meals, and because it was the weekend with no work to rush off to, my father would often pour a glug of Irish whiskey in his morning coffee. Why Irish whiskey? Well, my father was part Irish, so I always thought that he drank Irish whiskey because he was proud of his heritage. Or maybe he just liked the taste. Whatever the reason, I thought of those laid back family mornings when I created this recipe. My husband and I too have continued the tradition of fun weekend breakfasts for our seven-year-old daughter. Saturday breakfasts are usually hot cereal of some sort (my daughter has adored oatmeal since she was a baby), but Sunday breakfasts almost always feature my waffle iron or my heavy cast iron griddle. Last Sunday I was making French Toast for breakfast when I noticed a plastic bag containing a small amount of Corn Flakes crumbs in my pantry. They were too small to eat as cereal, and I was planning to use them instead of beadcrumbs for baked or fried fish, but knowing how much my daughter loves crunchy foods, I thought that it might be fun to use them as a French toast coating instead. Years ago I remember frequenting a restaurant for brunch in New York City that made a French Toast dish encrusted with Corn Flake. I decided to try to recreate the spirit of that dish. I wanted to infuse the egg-milk mixture that the bread would be dipped in with some warm, comforting flavors -- cinnamon and cardamom, a vanilla bean, and some maple syrup. To enhance the maple flavors even more, I tried making a maple-whiskey butter. It took me a few tries to get the ingredients and measurements just right. I knew that I wanted Irish whiskey, no doubt to remind me of my childhood breakfasts with my parents, but adding maple syrup to the butter made the mixture too wet. In the end, I opted to use maple extract because I could still get a strong maple flavor, but I wouldn't need to use quite as much of it. The maple extract is not as sweet as syrup, so I added a tiny amount of brown sugar to balance the flavors. A few toasted pecans added a nice crunch. This butter was divine with French Toast, but it would also be delicious on biscuits, on toast, or even on some grilled salmon filets.
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