Cornmeal Brioche French Toast

Scott and I have been lucky to be able to live in several different places. In every town we've lived in, we've had our favorite restaurants. Hands down, the best breakfast belongs to the The Courier in Urbana, IL. I was particularly in love with their almond french toast. Someday I will try to recreate it, but until then, every time I eat french toast, I think of the many happy breakfasts we had at The Courier.

Notes: I make french toast next to never, but we had an older loaf of brioche in the fridge this weekend and I decided to try it out. It came out pretty well.

I made a cornmeal batter because I like the crunch. I should have whisked it together in a bowl first and then poured the batter into a flat dish to dunk the bread because the cornmeal settled to the bottom. Live and learn! It was still tasty.

Keep your butter or other fat handy while you're cooking. If the pan starts to look dry, add more. A couple of my pieces wanted to stick to the pan.

You will notice that MY french toast has bananas on it because I enjoy fruit in my breakfast bread products, unlike some other benighted person that lives in my household.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup of flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cinnamon
4-6 slices of brioche
Butter or coconut oil for the pan
Confectioners sugar, fruit, and/or maple syrup for topping

Directions:

Heat a large skillet or griddle on medium-high.

In a bowl, whisk together cornmeal, sugar, cinnamon, and flour. Add in the milk and vanilla and whisk. Transfer the batter to a flat dish like a pie plate, cake pan, or 8x8 glass baking dish.

Drop a pat of butter into the pan and swirl it around to coat the bottom. Take a slice of bread, lay one side in the batter, flip it over and lay the other side in the batter, and then add it to the hot skillet. Let it brown on one side and the flip and let it brown on the other side. Add more butter if the pan starts to look dry.

When the slices are done, dust them with confectioner's sugar and/or fruit and enjoy!