Eggnog & Rum French Toast

Or, Booze for Breakfast!

Stopping at the Lusitania Bakery in London the other day to pick up a loaf of their wonderful Portuguese bread, I found that I had arrived too late and had to settle for their day-olds. That was no real loss, because the bread is still soft and delicious after a couple of days, but when the lady at the counter suggested that the day-olds are perfect for French Toast it got me thinking…

Earlier in the day I'd picked up some eggnog, and as I was driving home with my groceries thinking about the bakery lady's idea to use my loaf of Portuguese bread for French Toast, it occurred to me — why not use eggnog instead of milk to make French Toast? And as everyone knows that eggnog just isn't quite the real thing without a little tot of rum added, the idea of an eggnog & rum French Toast kept sounding better and better until I had to make it the next morning. I'm glad I did — the gentle hints of rum and winter spices made it about the best French Toast I'd ever tasted.

This would be a perfect dish for a Christmas morning breakfast, and if you don't like the idea of using rum so early in the day, you can substitute it with a couple of dashes of rum or vanilla extract. If you're more ambitious than I am, you can make your own traditional eggnog to use in this recipe and, of course, to serve later on but, for Canadian readers at least, President's Choice has a new and especially creamy eggnog without artificial flavours or colours that I very much recommend. I used Portuguese bread for my eggnog & rum French Toast, but of course thick slices of any kind of bread — French, Italian, or any other simple baker bread — will do just as well.

Eggnog & Rum French Toast

1 cup eggnog
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons dark rum
dash of ground cinnamon
dash of ground nutmeg
6 thick slices of bread
butter for greasing the pan

Heat a large cast-iron frying pan on the stove over medium-low heat. Meanwhile, beat the eggnog together with the eggs, rum and spices. When the frying pan is hot, lightly grease the surface with butter.

Trawl each slice of bread slowly through the eggnog mixture to let it soak in slightly, then place on the frying pan. Fry for a few minutes on each side until golden brown.

Serve hot from the pan with fresh maple syrup and berries.