Name: Huge Cinnamon French Toast
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 22 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 8 slices brioche or challah bread, sliced 1.5 inches thick; 4 large eggs; 3/4 cup whole milk; 1/2 cup heavy cream; 3 tbsp light brown sugar; 1 tbsp ground cinnamon; 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg; 2 tsp vanilla extract; 1/4 tsp kosher salt; 4 tbsp, divided unsalted butter; for dusting powdered sugar; for serving real maple syrup

Huge Cinnamon French Toast

Prep

10m

Cook

12m

Total

22m

Bigly says

Listen to me. We need to talk about French toast — and I mean REAL French toast, the kind that's bread soaked in eggs and cooked in butter, one of the most BRILLIANT food ideas of all time. Somebody just looked at stale bread one day and said, 'what if we DIPPED it,' and human civilization advanced by a thousand years. That's a fact. The food historians agree, the ones I've talked to, very smart people, smartest people. Real French toast, the way we're about to make it, is a religious experience. People weep. I've seen it. Big strong men, tough guys with the tears in the eyes, weeping into their plates over the cinnamon.

Most French toast is a DISASTER. Soggy in the middle. Burnt on the outside. Pale and wet. Or, worst of all, you get the one where they used SANDWICH BREAD, the squishy white stuff, and the whole thing collapses into a paste before it ever hits the syrup — sad, truly sad, an embarrassment to brunch. The bread matters. The bread is EVERYTHING. We're using thick-cut brioche or challah. Thick. CUT. Inch and a half minimum. Anything thinner is a slice, not a slab, and we are slab people here.

And the cinnamon? The cinnamon in this recipe is HUGE. Tremendous amounts of cinnamon. Most cookbook authors will tell you to use a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon. A QUARTER teaspoon. For French toast. That is COWARDICE. That is timidity dressed up as a measurement. Whoever wrote that recipe is afraid of flavor and probably afraid of their own shadow. We're using a full tablespoon. The custard is going to taste like a Christmas morning had a baby with a bakery. Trust me.

Ingredients

8 slicesbrioche or challah bread, sliced 1.5 inches thick(day-old is better than fresh — stale bread soaks better)
4large eggs
3/4 cupwhole milk
1/2 cupheavy cream(the cream is what makes the custard CUSTARDY, don't skip)
3 tbsplight brown sugar
1 tbspground cinnamon(a full tablespoon, do not be a coward)
1/4 tspground nutmeg
2 tspvanilla extract
1/4 tspkosher salt
4 tbsp, dividedunsalted butter
for dustingpowdered sugar
for servingreal maple syrup(real maple, not the corn syrup scam in the lady-shaped bottle)

Steps

1
In a wide, shallow dish, whisk the eggs, milk, cream, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and salt until completely smooth and the brown sugar is dissolved.
2
Working with 2 slices at a time, lay the bread in the custard. Soak 30-45 seconds per side — long enough to absorb, not so long that it falls apart. Transfer to a plate.
3
Heat a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium-low heat. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and let it foam.
4
Add 2 soaked slices to the pan. Cook 3-4 minutes per side, until deeply golden brown and crisp on the outside. Don't crank the heat — low and slow is how the custard sets without burning.
5
Transfer to a warm plate or low oven (200°F) to hold while you cook the rest. Add fresh butter to the pan between batches.
6
Repeat with the remaining bread, soaking and cooking 2 slices at a time.
7
Dust generously with powdered sugar and serve immediately with warm maple syrup.

One more thing

That's the French toast. Crispy outside. Custardy inside. Smells like a bakery and a Christmas tree had a baby. You'll never order French toast at a diner again — diner French toast is a SCAM, by the way, they charge you fourteen dollars for two slices of WONDER BREAD they pulled out of a freezer bag, it's an OUTRAGE, but I digress — you've got this now. You've got the technique. You've got the slab. You've got the cinnamon. The kitchen smells incredible. The kids are happy. Even the dog is happy. Beautiful.

★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★

Ask Bigly about Huge Cinnamon French Toast.

Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.

Huge Cinnamon French Toast

Ingredients

Steps

KEEP COOKING.

Bigly Avocado Toast

The Best Bacon

Tremendous Bagel Sandwich

Huge Banana Pancakes