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French Toast
Genevieve Ko
1608 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
1,608
10 minutes
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In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, cinnamon and salt.
Melt some butter in a large (12-inch) nonstick skillet over medium-low; you’ll want enough to lightly coat the bottom of the skillet when melted. When bubbling, add as many bread slices as will fit. Swirl the bread around to absorb the butter, adding more butter if the pan is dry. Cook until light golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes, adjusting the heat as needed to avoid burning.
Add another pat of butter, flip the bread and swirl to coat the other side in butter, gently pressing the bread to pick up any browned bits. Sprinkle the toasted tops edge to edge with a thin layer of the cinnamon sugar. Cook until the underside is golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes, adding more butter and adjusting temperature if the pan is dry or the toast is burning.
Flip and cook until the sugar sizzles and starts to melt, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer to a plate, sugar side up. (If any melted sugar sticks to the pan, gently swipe the bread over it to pick it up.) Sprinkle toasts with more cinnamon sugar. Wipe skillet and repeat with any remaining bread.
I grew up eating cinnamon toast in the 50's--much simpler: just toast the bread, immediately butter it and sprinkle on sugar and then cinnamon.
I grew up on this! My mother mixed butter at room temp, sugar and cinnamon then spread it on the white bread. She put it under the broiler until it bubbled and what can out was glorious! Crunchy, caramelized sugar AFTER you let it cool - otherwise you get a burnt tongue.
I also grew up on this! My mom would make us hot chocolate with real marshmallows, cinnamon toast, and popcorn for supper Sunday night, and then we kids would watch the Mutual of Omaha production Wild Kingdom and Disneyland before bed. We still make cinnamon toast occasionally, and I raised my kids on it. We keep sugar mixed with good cinnamon in the cupboard, and when the mood hits, turn on the broiler, butter soft bread on one side, sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the buttered side, & broil it.
I grew up on your mother’s method. I raised my children on it, prepared it often for the grandchildren, and hope to be around to make it for the great-grands.
I have never made cinnamon toast this way and I've eaten all of my 68 years. I'm going to try this one tonight and prove that you can teach an old dog new tricks, Phyllis.
I make mine with sliced bread dotted with butter pats and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, then placed under the broiler. But my favorite recipe for this is for Security Cinnamon Toast as made by Linus from the Peanuts Cook Book, recipes by June Dutton, and of course illustrated by Charles M. Schultz, from 1969. Perfect for those who have children, or who once were. To quote Linus, "Surely you don't expect me to eat RAW TOAST?!"
As kids, cinnamon toast was a special treat we only got when we were sick and staying home from school. Many folks start with a pre-blended cinnamon and sugar but I resist that bc I always like to "eyeball" what I pour on the toast. (...and somewhere I read that cinnamon tempers blood sugar fluctuations, so its filed under "health food" in my house! ; )
In the 60's, we had a store-bought spice jar of cinnamon sugar that we would sprinkle directly on buttered white (cottony storebrand) toast. Caramelization was not in my vocabulary at the time. My memory of "cinnamon sugar" toast triggers nostalgia, but also a weird sadness about growing up on mostly tasteless foods so that a bit of cinnamon stands out.
My hybrid & somewhat lower cal method: Toast bread to medium. Spread completely with softened butter, sprinkle on a mix of cinnamon and sugar. Broil in toaster oven until all is bubbly and caramelized. Mmm!
Allan -- I love that, too. But, toasters do not caramelize the goo.
I lived on this in college -- but my method was toast the bread, butter it immediately, then sprinkle confectioner's sugar and cinnamon on it. The advantage -- no sugar grit, which I still find somewhat objectionable. :-) Now I have to make one for dessert.
My mom had to make for 5 kids, so this was her way. The texture is gooey and crunchy! Butter bread, sprinkle sugar, sprinkle cinnamon bake 425 approx 10 min. It's the only way I make it - even for 1 in a toaster oven.
No sugar. Honey. Sacrilege, I know, but hear me out. Toast bread, spread butter. As it's melting, drizzle on honey. Sprinkle cinnamon and swirl all together. My daughters grew up on this, and still insist I make it when they come home.
Try with raisin or other fruited bread … my favorite. If you live near a poilane, their rye and raisin bread is dense and delightful for cinnamon toast. Thanks for sharing a new technique for a lifelong recipe!
Add nutmeg. Even more delicious.
There is no right or wrong way, the combo is always delicious. Fried toast is indeed mind blowing. But last night I found myself with some extra melted butter from a recipe, the cinnamon and sugar were out. My kitchen was already tidy, so into the microwave went the butter with some sugar and cinnamon, I chilled it over night. Just moments ago I slathered it on some bread, into my convection toaster. It did need more "oomph" and it was sea salt.
As a cinnamon toast lover, I also often add chopped walnuts. Ups the protein and is delicioso.
This is one of 2 recipes that I learned in Home-Ec in 7th grade (in the 60's!!!) I thought it was ridiculous that any one has to be taught how to make cinnamon toast then and I haven't changed my mind.
Mine burnt so easily when I made it :(
We grew up putting white sugar and cinnamon on buttered bread out of the toaster. A food experimenter, I found that putting buttered bread in the toaster gave the buttered toast a really good (broiled) taste. Bad idea. About the third episode, I almost burned the house down.
super easy and delicious!
Like most other commenters, this is not how I grew up making it. But after watching the process for coming up with this method, I was converted. Simple, nostalgic flavor. Requires no advanced preparation, I don’t have to turn on my oven or pull out my toaster, and the crunchy caramelized sugar is a step above what you get by simply sprinkling sugar on buttered bread.
Premix brown sugar and cinnamon. Butter bread and spread mix on bread. Toast in oven.
Not sure why I looked this up, but it’s exactly how I make it as an adult. Nice when one’s instincts are validated. As a kid I went to breakfast at a Ramada Inn with my grandparents every Sunday. Never sure why we went one town over to a random hotel restaurant but I do remember my go-to was cinnamon toast and grapefruit juice. Guess I enjoyed adventurous flavor combinations even then. Nice memory.
For anyone thinking (as I was) that this would be the same as what a toaster would produce, it is not! It is delicious and is definitely worth dirtying a skillet!!!
Such an evocative recipe! My mom only made cinnamon toast for me and my sisters once a year- for breakfast on the first day of school. I carried on the tradition for my children. Now they are at college we share photos of our cinnamon toast breakfasts on their first day or school. We never had a written recipe. Each year we fumble through it. So I’ll share this recipe with my children and sisters for the next generation.
Toast the bread in the toaster and then smear with butter and coat in sugar and cinnamon No need to waste butter and dirty a dish the best way by far is the toaster way
Eighth grade, 1972. The boys and girls swapped places - Wood Shop for Home Economics - for a couple of months. First thing we boys made was Cinnamon Toast! This recipe looks better!
Way better than my usual method of toasting bread in the toaster then adding butter, cinnamon, and sugar.
Cajun and creole gourmand
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