Fun and freezer friendly! These crunchy french toast sticks from my sweet friend, the Pioneer Woman’s latest cookbook, Come and Get It are a perfect easy morning snack. And pretty delicious, too! Make and freeze a batch ahead of time and then just grab a few to pop in the oven whenever the mood strikes. I’d say breakfast, but these make a sweet late night treat, too.
Crunchy! That’s what we’re going for. So grab a box of Cap’n Crunch cereal. Crumble it up and use it to help coat these french toast sticks. That’s right… we’re breading some bread with cereal … oh and bread crumbs, too.
So, I’ve been buying this thick Sara Lee Artesan bread lately. I don’t really use it for sandwiches, but for buttered toast it’s awesome and I thought it would work great for these french toast sticks, too. Use a serrated knife to gently saw through the bread. If you slice and press down with your knife, the bread will kind of cinch together along the cuts and lose their squared off edges. This is purely aesthetic, though.
Okay, let’s get going. In a shallow dish, whisk together eggs, half and half, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla.
And in a second dish (I’m using one of Pioneer Woman’s pretty little pie plates here btw), add cereal crumbs and panko bread crumbs. That’s right! Double crunch.
Then add more sugar and cinnamon and mix it all together.
Now, get your work area set up. Bread, check! Egg mixture, got it! Crunchy coating, okay! And have a rack ready on a baking sheet. Now this would have been a lot less messy with a helper on hand. Get one if you can so one person can dip and the other can coat.
Dunk and coat with on all sides with egg mixture and then with crumb coating.
Place sticks on a rack set in a baking sheet. This recipe makes 36 sticks … which is a lot for one sitting. So unless you’re feeding a big group, go ahead and place them in freezer bags for a perfect easy-going breakfast.
Or bake a few right away like I did.
Yes and yum yum yum!!! Sprinkle them with powdered sugar and dip them in maple syrup.
Or just stack up some sticks and pour the syrup on top. Either way, you’ll enjoy these sweet sticks!
The Pioneer Woman's Crunchy French Toast Sticks
Ingredients
Instructions
And don’t forget to check out Ree’s new book, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Come and Get It! for more easy-to make meals.
Enjoy!
Do you need to use the baking rack or will a regular sheet do?
I think the rack helps. They stuck a little bit to the grid of the rack, but they were easy to remove. Directly on a baking sheet, I think they would stick too much. You could try them with parchment paper though.
Parchment paper works just fine!
These are right up my alley. Can’t wait to try.
We have been hooked on that same bread lately! It’s like the perfect bread for French toast. Never thought to use Captain Crunch to coat. Such a great idea! I’ll have to try it.
That bread is soo good. I love it for buttered toast.
These look AMAZING. We have an Eggy-Bread Sunday tradition in our house, so I’ll definitely be trying this out :)
Yum! These look so good!
Kari
http://sweetteasweetie.com/superfood-beet-chips/
These would be divine with coffee!!!! I remember when you went to visit PW at her ranch.
YUM! looks like the perfect use for not-so-fresh bread! Definitely going to try this soon!
Oh my goodness these hit the spot. Sound divine. Especially the idea of a late night snack.
I’ve actually pulled them out of the freezer more at night than for breakfast. : )