Wait, What is French Toast doing in the Waffle Maker?

This recipe is the standard French toast recipe, but you cook it in your waffle maker.   Yet another novel idea brought to me by the internet that seems so obvious! The results are quite tasty, so without further ado, here is French Toast Waffles.

Inspiration

Cooking with My Kid Waffle Iron French Toast

I increased the recipe a bit since the original only made four slices and I was feeding two adults and one toddler and that was definitely not going to be enough food.  I figured if it made more than we could eat, we could see how well it froze.  Unfortunately we ate all of it so there were no leftovers!

I switched out the maple syrup (don't have any) for an equal amount of brown sugar.  I also skipped sprinkling it with powdered sugar since we put butter and pancake syrup on our waffles.  And I mixed the cinnamon directly into the egg mixture like I normally do for French toast.  I usually would add a splash of vanilla extract to something like this, but since it didn't magically appear in front of me when I opened the cupboard and I was too lazy to dig around to find it, I grabbed the first semi-appropriate thing I saw, caramel syrup used for flavoring coffee.  Yum!

We've only got a round waffle iron, which doesn't play nicely with the square shape of the bread, so I only made one slice at a time.  Yeah, it took longer, bit it was worth it!

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk)
• 2 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 T caramel syrup
• 6-8 slices bread 

Directions

Heat up your waffle iron.  You know your waffle iron better than I do, so you might want to grab the cooking spray to give it a spritz to ensure the waffles don't stick.  I used olive oil cooking spray on the first one, but our waffle iron has a non-stick coating, so I skipped it for all the subsequent slices. 

Egg mixture for dipping.

In a medium size bowl, mix up the eggs, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, and caramel syrup until the eggs are fully broken down. I find it easier to beat the ingredients in a separate container because the bowl I use for dipping the bread into is so shallow that it would make a total mess. 

Square bread in a round waffle iron.

Pour the egg mixture into a shallow bowl and briefly dip a piece of bread into the egg mixture and flop it into the waffle iron.  For my waffle iron I find it's easiest to set a timer for 2 minutes and then remove the finished waffle rather than listening for the 'click' of the "hot" light turning off on the top. 

Golden brown and delicious.

Verdict

What an awesome mash-up of waffles and French toast!

I loved the thick texture of these French toast waffles. Usually a regular waffle doesn't get too crispy in a standard home waffle maker, so it can end up kind of lifeless and "nothing special".  This version has a lot of body and denseness (but not too much), even though I used light 12-grain bread, which can be thin and puny.  This was a total homestyle "breakfast for dinner" success. 

Husband Jeff really liked these as well, and Sonny D ate at least one and a half slices, so that's another favorable review from the toddler.  I think I'm on a roll here! 

I would most definitely make this again, and probably would keep the caramel syrup addition as well.  The caramel syrup gave it a depth that was enhanced by the pancake syrup.  It would also be really good with a homemade strawberry sauce and whipped cream.  I love whipped cream on waffles! Those little puddles of creamy syrup are so tasty.  A huge thanks to my brother-in-law Scott and his wife Stacy who taught us that one.