Ah, breakfast! This is certainly my favourite meal of the day, even though I hardly get to relish the early hours of the morning to team up my cuppa java with some good eats. Single momma mornings are hellish on weekdays and on weekends … I just want to dream of a good breakfast while I sleep through the entire morning!
Then again, that all fades when you get this odd feeling someone is quietly watching and waiting on you to get up on a Saturday morning to make a tasty rush-free breakfast. Yeap, guilt just washes over me with half eyelids open as I get a fuzzy glimpse of my 10 yr old boy trying ever so quietly not to wake me up as he stares and checks on me every 10 minutes.
So, hey … that alone gets me up with a giggle and some lovely ideas for breakfast. Our fave breakfast food is cereal on weekdays and on Sunday’s it’s pancakes. Saturdays is a mish mash of greasy gourmet breakfast meats with garlic rice, eggs and toast or much to my preference is French toast!
What better way to make use of day old lunch bread than to make French toast! It’s amazing to learn that this stale old bread breakfast fare is actually considered as Christmas time dessert in Portugal and Brazil ..as is in  Spain, it is enjoyed as part of the Easter dessert table.
For such an understated basic set of ingredients, this most certainly has a lot of heavenly breakfast promises for you to look forward to. Many countries have stamped their own signature serving preference with this simple dish, almost giving it more of a dessert characteristic than that of a breakfast meal. French toast is basically sweetened with sugar. But these days, you can play around with maple syrup, honey, flavoured butter and cream, fruits and nuts and serve it with a side of crispy bacon strips or sausages.
I am on the verge of shorting my keyboard from drooling at graphic images of a hefty French toast breakfast for this coming Saturday! Well, I have promised myself to take it easy on the Friday night rampage this week, so I can render myself useful this weekend and not be a total wreck. Breakfast is always a delight minus the hangover from hell.
ORANGE PECAN FRENCH TOAST
Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/3 cup chopped pecans
12 (3/4 inch thick) slices French bread
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup 2% milk
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 egg whites
2 eggs
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Instructions
1.In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, melted butter, and corn syrup. Pour into a greased 9×13 inch baking dish, and spread evenly. Sprinkle pecans over the sugar mixture. Arrange the bread slices in the bottom of the dish so they are in a snug single layer.
2.In a medium bowl, whisk together the orange zest, orange juice, milk, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, egg whites, and eggs. Pour this mixture over the bread, pressing on the bread slices to help absorb the liquid. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight.
3.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C ). Remove the cover from the baking dish, and let stand for 20 minutes at room temperature.
4.Bake for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
Photo Credit: DaveSommerPhotos
Photo Credit: Flickr
Photo Credit: Flickr