RECIPE! French Toast Bites

The Breakfast of Slow-Moving Champions

TO QUOTE MINT, "How are these so delicious? HOW!?!"

Well, I'll tell you. I can't remember where I stumbled across the ingredient list for this French toast batter but it seems to get a pretty good review, and the idea to make these bite-sized breakfast staples arose from the simple fact that a) I had a leftover Italian roll and b) Mint likes finger food. And so it was. Or, so they were. Whichever.

I suppose that leftover rolls of any type would stand in just fine. You could even slice up regular bread into cafeteria-favorite "sticks" if you like. I think what makes the Italian roll such a good choice is the thick crusty crust dotted with sesame seeds, which gives the resulting French toast some firmness around the edges while the sesame seeds provide a unique flavor.

For the batter:

1 egg
1/4 c. soy/almond milk
1 tbsp. flour
t tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp sugar
splash of vanilla extract

Now, I don't measure this out. Ever. I'm guessing this is what it break down into. As you can see, it's all in proportion to the number of eggs you're using. I used five (5) eggs for two large rolls, and so I threw in five (5) big spoons full of flour and five (5) smaller spoons full of sugar; the "1/4 cup" of milk is approximate since I pour it right from the bottle into the eggs and stop when I think enough has been added and I figure I used about a cup of milk; and the cinnamon and vanilla get shaken/poured direct to bowl, so, your guess is as good as mine. I know, that's maddening. Just try it on one slice and see how delicious it turns out. If you want more delicious, add stuff.

Fact: millions of immigrants ate pancakes at Ellis Island

I would, however, offer this: mix by hand. I sometimes use an electric mixer but it seems to do the mixing job too well. In a way, you want the flavors to clump together a bit and then pop out and surprise you in the finished product. And this way you're saving electricity. Al Gore would be proud of you.

These keep as well and freeze as well as any other French toast you'll find, but you get the added bonus of picking these fellas up with your fingers and dipping them in some maple syrup sans fork, sans pretense. Seeing as how he's packed on a few extra pounds these days, that's also something Al Gore would get behind.