Eggnog French Toast

Growing up, I never really liked eggnog.....well, I can't really say for sure that I didn't like it because I was picky back then so I don't remember ever actually trying it.  I think I was turned off by the thick texture, and I thought the name of it didn't sound very good to me.

Fast forward to today and (luckily) I'm not very picky at all so I decided to give it a shot and buy a carton of eggnog for the holidays to decide once and for all if I liked it or not.  Well, I tried it and the texture is a little different than what I'm used to, but I really liked the flavor a lot.  Although I will admit that I've been drinking a few sips at a time right out of the carton because I don't think I could drink a whole glass in one sitting since it's so rich.  There's something about the nutmeg in it that I really like.  I actually have been on a nutmeg kick lately so I'm going to have to find some more recipes to use nutmeg in. 

Anyways, we were running a little low on food the other day, and I decided we would have breakfast for dinner so that I could put off going to the grocery store one more day.  I saw someone post about eggnog french toast on a message board, and I knew I had plenty in the refrigerator so I decided that would be perfect!  Most of the recipes I found were overnight recipes, but I did find this recipe on http://www.allrecipes.com/ that I adapted for our dinner tonight.  This one was definitely a hit and I will be making it again next year during eggnog season :)  I would definitely recommend using thick slices of bread for this.  The flavor was amazing and even those who don't like to drink eggnog would like this french toast.

Ingredients:

1 loaf bread, sliced into thick slices (I actually had some Rhode's bread dough in the freezer so I baked this up and sliced the bread into 6 really thick slices.  After slicing, I let the bread sit out for an hour to dry it out a bit so that it wouldn't fall apart when I dipped it in the eggnog mixture.)

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups eggnog

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon nutmeg

butter for greasing pan (I added more butter between each batch so I probably used 3-4 tablespoons)

powdered sugar and syrup, for serving

Directions:

1. Whisk together the eggs. eggnog, vanilla, and nutmeg in a mixing bowl until well blended.  Pour the mixture into a shallow dish (I used a glass pie pan).

2.  Preheat a large skillet over medium heat and grease the skillet with butter.

3. Dip one slice of bread at a time into the eggnog mixture, being sure to coat each side of the bread thoroughly (but be careful not to leave it in there too long otherwise your bread will get too soggy and fall apart).

4. Place the prepared bread slices into the preheated skillet, and cook, turning once, until golden brown on each side. I would recommend adding more butter to the pan for each batch you make.  Place cooked slices on a serving plate and cover with foil (I kept the plate warm in a 200 degree oven) to keep warm until all French toast is cooked. Serve immediately with powdered sugar and syrup.