Peggy Lampman's Sunday dinnerFeed: French toast with Traverse City cherry sauce

If you prefer your French toast creamy, let it soak longer in the custard. Prefer it drier? Pull the bread out sooner. If you’d like to cut calories, substitute milk for the half-and-half. If you enjoy a crunchy crust use canola oil in place of the butter. (If you decide to change the name to “Italian Toast” that works too!)

Today is the last day Traverse City Cherries are on sale at Plum Market. (I rhapsodized about this lovely specimen in detail on Friday’s dinnerFeed.)This simple, versatile sauce was such a hit with the smoked pork on Friday, the family requested an encore.

Ingredients

1 cup half-and-half 3 large eggs 1 tablespoon brown sugar 8 (1/2-inch) slices day-old challah bread* 2-3 tablespoons unsalted butter Traverse City Cherry Sauce (see Friday’s dinnerfeed for this simple recipe), chilled

*I’ve used day-old Italian, French and cinnamon raisin, also with delicious results.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250Ëš. 2. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the half-and-half, eggs, brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Pour custard mixture into a shallow an and set aside. Dip bread into mixture, allow to soak for a minute on each side the shake off excess batter. 3. Over medium-low heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a nonstick saute pan. Place 2 slices of bread at a time into the pan and cook until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining slices adding additional butter as desired. 4. Keep French Toast warm by placing on paper towel-lined baking sheet in oven. Top with Traverse City Cherry Sauce.