This french toast recipe reminded me of my first vacation with Matt, which also happened to be my first vacation EVER with a boyfriend. Back in 2009, we traveled to Costa Rica and stayed at a hotel in Guanacaste. Our favorite thing to order for breakfast every morning was the “Crunchy French Toast”, which was crusted with crumbled-up cornflakes. James Beard’s version also calls for cornflakes and I decided to fancify it with some chocolatey peanut butter goodness.

JAMES BEARD’S FRENCH TOAST
Adapted from The Breakfast Book. Serves 4.

3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp pink Himalayan salt
2 cups cornflakes, lightly crushed
1/2 stick butter
4 slices dense white bread

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER SAUCE

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate baking chips
1/4 cup peanut butter

Combine eggs, milk, nutmeg and salt together and stir until well blended. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a shallow bowl for dipping. Spread the crushed cornflakes on a piece of waxed paper. Dip both sides of each slice of bread into the mixture, then press the coated bread into the cornflakes.

Combine chocolate chips and peanut butter in a double boiler and cook on low heat. Meanwhile, melt half the butter in a large skillet over medium heat and fry 2 slices of bread until golden on each side. When done, keep warm in a 250°F oven while you fry the other 2 slices of bread in the remaining butter. Drizzle with hot chocolate peanut butter sauce right before serving.

Don’t forget to stop by Rachel, Emily, Claudie, Natasha and Aimée’s blogs to see what they cooked from Chapter 2 of The Breakfast Book.