Puffed French Toast

Yet another recipe from www.ourbestbites.com. This is so horribly delish!

Puffed French Toast
Recipe by OurBestBites.com

2 eggs
2 ½ Tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. milk
1 c. flour
2 ½ tsp. baking powder
12 slices Texas style toast, cut in half diagonally

In a large skillet or frying pan, heat about 1/4" of vegetable oil (not olive oil) over medium heat. In a shallow bowl or pie plate, whisk together eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla, milk, flour, and baking powder. Test oil heat by flicking some water into the frying pan. If it pops, reduce the heat. If hardly anything happens, turn up the heat. If it sizzles, it's just right.

Working quickly, take each 1/2 slice of bread and soak it both sides in the milk/egg/flour mixture. If you leave it in too long, it will get soggy, but you want to make sure enough of the egg mixture has soaked into the bread. Gently shake to remove excess batter and place in hot oil. Cook until puffed, golden brown, and a nice, crispy crust has formed on each side (probably 3-5 minutes per side; you really need to babysit them and make sure they're cooking correctly) and then remove from oil and drain on a paper towel. While cooking remaining French toast, keep cooked pieces warm in an oven set to the lowest temperature it will go.

When ready to serve, roll each piece in cinnamon sugar.

If you're feeling extra naughty, go ahead and drizzle a little maple syrup, buttermilk syrup, strawberry syrup or scoop some honey butter on there.

Slice the bread into strips for great french toast dippers. Kiddos love these- or talk about killer party food! You could pile them high on a platter and then serve next to ramekins filled with different dipping sauces. Ie: Maple syrup, Buttermilk Syrup, Strawberry Sauce, etc.