They say you can tell a person’s true colors in the darkest of times.
That moment for me was early Monday morning when the Los Angeles earth decided to shake rapidly in the middle of the night. I was mid-crazy dream. I was in the South of France. Amelia and a cat were fighting. I found a Sriracha bottle (how a bottle of Sriracha was just laying on a French country-side road is unknown) and started to throw it at the two of them to quit it. That’s when the earth shook, the doors to my closet trembled and my inner-self went into pure panic mode.
Petrified and confused out of my mind, I jumped out of bed, pushed Josh to wake up and bolted out of the bedroom door. Josh screamed (a very manly scream, I might add), “WHAT IS IT?!?” and him, me and Amelia headed for the bedroom door. Apparently, he thought there was a squirrel in our bed. Why a squirrel, I have no idea…so as we were running out of the bedroom door, he threw the blankets on top of each other, as to try and catch the non-existent squirrel and slammed the bedroom door shut.
Amelia was not to be left behind. She was right there. The trembling stopped and I immediately started doing this weird cry/laugh thing I always seem to do when I’m embarrassed/scared/confused.
Josh explained his fear about the small animal in our bed and I just started laughing hysterically. I couldn’t stop.
There are only a few things that can calm my panicked-self. French toast is one of them.
This recipe marks the first of six recipes of a collaboration with Almond Breeze. I’ve been drinking this stuff for forever; and couldn’t be more excited to use it in so much more than just my morning cereal. Think almond custards, other baked goods and even savory dishes.
But first, Toasted Almond French Toast! The challah is soaked in a delicious combo of almond milk, honey, eggs and almond extract. The challah bread is dipped in almond slices and then pan-fried until the almonds are toasty and the edges are lightly golden brown.
The flavor is rich, satisfying, with a pleasant almond flavor and a bit of crunch for texture.
This is what brunch dreams are made of!
Ingredients
- 1 cup Original Almond Breeze Almond Milk
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 small loaf of challah bread, sliced (about 10 slices)
- 1/2 cup almond slices
- Butter or oil for the pan
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 200 degree F. Line a baking sheet with parchment and transfer it to the oven. Since we'll be making this in batches, this is where we'll keep the cooked French toast warm.
- To a large bowl or large baking dish (I prefer the baking dish because it's flat and easier for dunking), whisk together the almond milk, eggs, honey, almond extract, vanilla extract and salt.
- Dip the slices in batches of two or three and allow them to soak for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat up a skillet over moderately medium heat and grease it with a bit of butter or oil. Lift up one piece of bread out of the custard, allowing for any excess to drip off. Transfer it to a small plate and sprinkle the almonds on both sides, pressing the almonds into the bread--they'll stick!
- Place the slices of challah bread onto the warm skillet and cook until both sides are lightly golden brown. Be sure to keep an eye on it; the almonds toast quickly. Transfer the French toast to the oven to keep warm. Continue with the process of dunking, soaking, covering in sliced almost and frying, until you've cooked up the entire loaf of challah bread.
- Serve with slices of fruit and maple syrup.
(This post is sponsored by Almond Breeze)
33 Comments
I love cooking and baking with almond milk, almond extract, and that whole family of flavors. And with the honey. And the poms. Wow…Breakfast at your house, please! pinned
Thanks for the Pinterest love, Averie! You da best.
officially starving. I’m 100% trying this recipe.
from – The Lion’s Den
Challah makes the best french toast!! Love this recipe 🙂
I guess I need to try out almond milk the next time I’m making French toast 🙂 Looks delicious!
Mmm… delicious! I can not see how someone could not resist this! I am so trying this almond milk combo!
Brunch couldn’t come around any sooner. Need to make this and I love the little jewels sprinkled on top. Perfect
this looks delicious. I just had to comment on the fact that you referred to the earthquake as taking place in the “middle of the night.” that cracked me up. I envy you that 6:30 am is the middle of the night! I was dressed and leaving for work, and my husband and toddler were eating breakfast.
I know. I know. I imagine at some point 6:30am won’t be in the middle of the night. It actually was more like 6am but since the time change happened, it felt and looked like the middle of the night.
There is nothing more jarring than being woken up by an earthquake. Half-conscious wondering “why is by bed shaking?” and then realizing “HOLY $*%& EARTHQUAKE!” I will never get used to it. HA!
This looks stupid good. Going to have to make it this weekend!
ohmygod when we had our little shake up here last week I refused to shower for like an hour in case there was another because I thought nothing could be worse than an earthquake while you shower then I got shampoo in my eyes and realized that would be the absolute worst.
Also I used vanilla almond milk once for french toast because it’s all we had and now I’ve never looked back. It’s the best.
HAHA! Let’s note that you weren’t like, “Oh I’ll have to run out of the shower with no clothes on,” instead you didn’t want to get shampoo in your eyes! HAHA.
hahaha IT WAS THE COMBO. officially the only thing worse than running out of the shower during an earthquake is running out of the shower during an earthquake while there’s shampoo in your eyes.
Seriously, i love you! When there is some kind of technology where I can reach into my screen and just grab breakfast or lunch, that will be amazing! Wait isn’t that Wonk-a-vision? 😀
I’m glad that doesn’t exist because I’D EAT ALL DAY LONG.
Gorgeous photos! I love almond milk too so only naturally will I be adding this to our weekend brunch!
Ha! How would a squirrel get into your bed and don’t you think Amelia would have been all over that little vermin! That is really funny though. French toast is a life saver in any situation!
If a squirrel came into our bed the first one who would notice is Amelia. She would like nothing more than to catch a squirrel. That’s her goal in life.
I love crusting french toast! I’ve had one crusted in oatmeal and nuts sitting in my drafts for a while and this has reminded me of the deliciousness. The trickiest part is not to burn the outside, which I always mess up!
Admittedly I burned a few slices of this French toast. You definitely have to watch it carefully. 🙂
Gorgeous French toast, perfect use for Challah!
ahhh ha ha!! The part of about the imaginary squirrel is priceless.
I’ve never thought of using almond milk for french toast, but I can see how that would be really yummy
Like, why a squirrel?! WHY! Haha.
Boo to the earthquake but a major WooHoo to this French Toast!
I love french toast, its my fancy goto brunch.
wow. I live in Seattle and our last earthquake (15 yrs ago) was a 7.6 and totally scary. At least you moved! I just sort of sat there perched on a super old gas furnace with my eye balls bulging out and my mouth hanging open. But I agree, this french toast would calm anyone’s nerves! It looks wonderful!
Challah makes the very best French Toast! I’m super jazzed to try this… I’ve been making your Strawberry Vanilla Bean Baked Oatmeal with the Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk every Sunday night and we are in an exclusive, committed, passionate relationship.
Oh man, you’re cracking me up with your earthquake story. A squirrel and sriracha, haha! This French toast looks killer. I bet those toasted almonds really send it over the top.
[…] started out great thanks to the little things. Will made me hot coffee in the morning. There was toasted almond french toast. I read this blog post this morning from one of my favorite bloggers/social media and marketing […]
I can’t even imagine an earthquake! I CAN however imagine a French toast quake. In my mouth.
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