Custardy, soft french toast is a classic breakfast option. You can do so much with the basic recipe just by using different types of bread. White bread makes the most basic french toast, while cinnamon raisin bread makes the dish taste almost like a cinnamon bun. Unlike pancakes, where you can just toss in some berries, it can be difficult to add additional flavors or textures to french toast, but if you can manage it, you’ve just taken a good breakfast dish to a great one.
This is one of my favorite french toast variations: Cereal-Crusted French Toast. The concept is the same as breading chicken or pork, but instead of dipping the egg-soaked bread into breadcrumbs, you dip it into cereal. I like to use Rice Krispies for this, as they are easy to stick onto the toast and cook up nicely. Crushed cornflakes work very well, too, but there are many other cereals that should work. Kids might even like to see colorful crushed Fruit Loops coating their toast. I would just avoid using cereals that have add-ins, like dried fruits or marshmallows, both of which might burn as the french toast cooks and won’t contribute to the crunchy crust on the toast. I would also recommend using a thicker, or firmer, bread for this recipe because the bread will be a little easier to handle when you go to dip it in the crushed cereal mixture.
The crusted french toast doesn’t take any longer to cook than regular french toast, but should be served immediately to preserve the crispiness of the cereal coating. The number of pieces of french toast you get from this recipe will vary based on your bread selection, but the recipe can easily be doubled if you need to serve a crowd.
Cereal-Crusted French Toast
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
4-6 thick slices of bread
approx 2 cups Rice Krispies, lightly crushed (or other plain cereal)
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla. Pour into a pie plate.
Place crushed cereal into another pie plate or shallow, wide bowl.
Preheat frying pan or griddle over medium-high heat. Lightly grease with butter or nonstick spray.
Soak each slice of bread in the egg mixture, turning once to coat thoroughly. Carefully transfer bread to cereal plate, and press down to coat both sides of the bread.
Cook french toast on preheated griddle until it is cooked through – no liquid should run out when lightly pressed – and lightly browned on both sides.
Serves 4-6
Steph
June 7, 2009That is such a cool breakfast idea! I’m giving this a try for sure.. we have a huge bag of rice krispies.
sharon
June 7, 2009What a great idea! I think Capt ‘n Crunch would be yummy as well.
Kristen
June 7, 2009Hmm… I wonder how that would work with Cinnamon Toast Crunch? 🙂
CookiePie
June 7, 2009I love it! I’ve had cornflake-crusted french toast in restaurants, but never made it at home — I’ll have to try it!
LAmonkeygirl
June 7, 2009Here in LA, we have a mini-chain of restaurants called Jinky’s that serves French toast coated in Honey Nut Cornflakes. They’re delicious!
http://www.jinkys.com/
Hoodia Gordonii
June 8, 2009This French toast is one of my favorite food. I had it many times. Now only I know how to prepare it. I’ll try.
john
June 8, 2009french toast has gotta be up there in my top 5 breakfasts…
Angela
June 8, 2009This recipe has inspired me to create a decadent breakfast of my own-
Well, first, I’ll be using whole wheat english muffin bread with mulberries, the basis for which was your recipe also =)
And….I have some frozen cookies to use up sometime. So I think I’ll crumble a snickerdoodle and use it in place of the cereal!
Good thing I’m a runner- this isn’t a very low-carb breakfast! 😉
By the way- if you can manage to put up any recipes that use cookie crumbs soon, that would be fantastic! Love your blog!
Cheryl
June 8, 2009There’s a restaurant near me that serves Cap’n Crunch French Toast and it is deeeelishus!!
shellyanne
June 8, 2009this looks delicious 🙂 i will have to try this!
Lyndsay
June 8, 2009This is SUCH an awesome idea…my son will loooove making this with me..thanks for the inspiration!!
justcooknyc
June 9, 2009i totally love this idea
Dan Melatrol
June 13, 2009My son is going to flip his lid for this recipe. I can’t wait to make this for him Saturday morning.