Buttermilk French Toast with Strawberry Syrup

An upside to being in the midst of yet another winter storm… I’m home with my babies… and get to make them a big ole homemade breakfast. Breakfast just may be my favorite meal of the day. During the weekdays it’s a boring Greek yogurt and banana, but when I’m home, I love to do it up big! This morning, Brogan requested some strawberry syrup (just like Ihop, mommy). Okay. What to go with syrup… French Toast! Sounded good to Brogan so it was decided! As I started pulling out the ingredients, I was a little hesitant to use a lot of my milk (because we’ll likely be iced in for a while), but then I saw the buttermilk. Hmmm. I use it in my pancakes (and most other baked goods these days). Why not? The more I thought about, the better it sounded. I love the sour flavor it adds, especially paired with something really sweet.

So the verdict on this – incredible. It is the best French Toast I’ve ever made (go ahead, laugh, I know I say this a lot), but seriously it is. I served it with butter, the homemade strawberry syrup, a little bit of maple syrup, dusting of powdered sugar, and of course, some bacon on the side. All of these flavors were just magical together – so, so good.

Buttermilk French Toast

12 pieces of bread (I used whole wheat because I had it on hand, but any would do)
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Butter (for griddle and for serving)
Strawberry syrup (see below)
Maple syrup
Powdered sugar (for dusting)

1.) Heat a griddle to 350 degrees.
2.) In a pie plate, beat together eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and cinnamon.
3.) Add about a tablespoon of butter to griddle and spread it around. Dip both sides of each slice of bread in the buttermilk mixture. Place on griddle. Cook for about 2 minutes (or until nicely browned). Flip over and cook another 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining pieces of bread.
4.) Serve with butter, strawberry syrup, a little bit of maple and a dusting of powdered sugar.

Strawberry Syrup
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 cups strawberries, quartered

In a saucepan, heat water and sugar to boil. Add strawberries, return to boil and then reduce heat to medium high heat. Cook for 10 minutes, uncovered. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for another 10 minutes.