As we play our way through Dragon Age Inquisition for the first time, I have to say that it puts us in a rather aggressive mindset. We feel the urge to go forth and conquer things and conform them to our ideologies for the sake of the “greater good.” We have applied such schools of thought to our cooking recently, and one of the things that we have “conquered” as of late has been something notorious for its (way too) sweet reputation: French toast. Usually covered in butter corn syrup (sweet), dusted in powdered sugar (sweeter), and often soaked in eggs saturated in sugar and cinnamon (just eat a Pillsbury cinnamon roll, for goodness sake), French toast hasn’t been something that we seek out. But one day, Nate made some incredible homemade bread and we had to use it up. We made a few tasty favorites with it, but still had some left. So, we decided to go outside our comfort zone and venture into enemy territory (sorry, sweet tooths [teeth?])…

We decided to make French toast.

After some research we decided to base our recipe on something we found in the vast archives of the Martha Stewart empire, but suppress most of the sugary influences (of course). That left us with the conundrum of toppings. We had maple syrup and powdered sugar on hand (we swear we don’t know how it got there), but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to use them. We knew we would be disappointed. In search of a solution, we got creative. We always have an overstock of peanut butter in the pantry, and having just returned from Sauvie Island, we had plenty of strawberry jam to use. And then we had a thought: What if we took a classic and made it better?

What you see before you is how we will eat French toast for the rest of our lives. Salty peanut butter and seasonal jam on top of perfect french toast that is crisp on the outside, and almost like cake on the inside.

• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup half and half
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch salt
• pinch ground cinnamon
• 2 1-inch slices artisan bread (day old preferable)
• Oil or butter for cooking
• Peanut butter
• Any seasonal jam/preserves/jelly/marmalade/etc.
• Banana, sliced (optional)

Whisk together egg, half and half, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon in a baking dish (big enough to hold all your bread). Soak bread in egg mixture for 10 minutes on each side. Heat a skillet and butter over medium low heat and cook each side of the bread for 2–3 minutes, until golden brown.

If making more than one batch, preheat oven to its lowest setting. Place a wire rack on a baking sheet in the oven. Remove from heat, and put in the oven until all your French toast is ready.

Serve immediately with peanut butter, jam, or whatever you want on top.

Serves 2.