French Toast with Honey Vanilla Bean Butter

Happy Easter!  We are so blessed Madison came home from school for the holiday weekend, and we celebrated a wonderful family dinner on Saturday. The pink tulips (my fave) I picked up at the grocery that morning made a simple, yet beautiful centerpiece!

Before our  holiday dinner, we had an eventful Saturday morning that involved unexpected new tires for the car AND unexpected contact lenses for the hubs.

All of that took place before noon! Whew, what a morning! When they got home from their adventures, I made them a wonderful brunch. It was a new recipe, and it was sooooo delish I wanted to share it.

I found this recipe as part of my participation with the Allrecipe's Allstar Ambassador program. I have been volunteering with this program for almost a year. This month, Allrecipes has partnered with the America's Dairy Farmers in support of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

As an Allrecipe Allstar I was given several different recipes to try. I have made 3 of the recipes so far and by far my favorite is the French Toast with Honey Vanilla Bean Butter.  This recipe was soooo good it didn't last long!  Try it you'll love it!

We really LOVE butter in this household! When Madison was around 5 or 6 years old she was already experimenting in the kitchen.  Once when I was sick she decided to whip something up on her own (she's always been independent like that).  Seeing as I was in bed deathly ill, Madison decided to ask her dad for help.  She needed to melt some butter for whatever she was creating, and asked her dad if butter can be melted in the microwave.  At the time she asked him, dad was watching TV...er I mean working on something very important and may not have been paying full attention to her question. He said "sure, the microwave will do a fine job melting butter".  What Don didn't realize is that Madison was putting the butter in the microwave with the foil wrapper on it!  Fortunately, the child has always been very smart, so she turned off the microwave immediately when she saw the lightning bolts!  Thankfully, no harm was done to child or oven. She learned a lesson that day, but still went on to have several microwave mishaps in the years to come...explosions, fires, etc... you know, the usual stuff. Naturally, when she was asked to make a TOY out of paper and glue for her 3D design class - she decided to make a life size version of our microwave! 

French Toast with Honey Vanilla Bean Butter

original recipe Go Bold with Butter

Honey Vanilla Bean Butter

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup honey (I used Sourwood honey from Savannah)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 vanilla bean, seeded (My bean was a little on the small side, so I used the seeds from the whole bean)

Directions:

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, honey, sugar, cinnamon, salt and vanilla together until smooth.

Dollop the mixture onto parchment paper in a log shape. Roll the paper tightly and twist the ends to seal. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

French Toast

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 cup whole milk

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch salt

1/2 cup brandy (I omitted the brandy as I didn't have any on hand)

zest of one orange (or lemon)

French bread, sliced into 1-inch slices 

2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

Whisk together eggs, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, brandy, and zest. Dip the bread slices into the egg mixture to coat.

Heat a large skillet to medium heat. Melt butter. Add bread and cook for about 2 minutes on each side. The french toast should be golden brown. Serve immediately with a generous slice of honey butter and pure maple syrup.

NOTE: I made the french bread the day before. It was worth the effort!