Chunky Monkey French Toast

Here's the gameplan. We're going to make a thick and creamy peanut butter custard to soak some bread for french toast. Then, we'll cook it in butter until it's toasted to perfection. And, we'll top our fluffy french toast with some caramelized bananas and some baby chocolate chips.

Does that sound like a super delicious plan, or what?

Let's start with the french toast. My bread of choice for any french toast is one that it sliced a little thicker and preferably rich and buttery. Brioche falls into that category, so that's what we're using today. I'm able to find pre-sliced brioche bread in my local supermarket. But if you're not, you can buy a loaf of brioche and slice it yourself into slices that are about an inch thick.

To soak our yummy bread, we're going to make a quick and simple peanut buttery custard. All we need is a couple of eggs, some cream, a little sugar, a splash of vanilla, a good plop of peanut butter, and a little pinch of cinnamon and salt. We need to whisk whisk whisk this custard super duper well in order to break down all of the peanut butter so that it's smooth and creamy in our sauce. I actually prefer to use a fork to do the whisking. I find that I have better control when it comes to breaking down the peanut butter. But, a traditional whisk absolutely works here too.

Once our custard is nice and smooth, we'll dip our bread into the custard, give it a few seconds to soak up all that creamy deliciousness, then to a buttery skillet it goes to toast up until it's crisp and golden on the outside while still being fluffy and creamy on the inside.

It could be argued that the best part about any meal is the toppings. So, we're going all out for this french toast. First, we're going to caramelize some bananas in the same buttery skillet that we used to cook our french toast. Now, bananas are full of natural sugars. So, we really don't need to do anything but slice a banana and toss it right into our skillet to caramelize. I would recommend using a slightly firmer banana for these caramelized bananas so that they don't turn to mush as the cook. And as soon as they're perfectly golden on both sides, we'll give those bananas a little pinch of flaky sea salt to help balance out the intense sweetness.

To serve, we take our peanut butter french toast, give it a drizzle of maple syrup, top it with our caramelized bananas, and finish it with a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips.

When it's time to eat, we have sweet and savory notes hitting us from all directions. The maple syrup, caramelized bananas, and chocolate chips bring all the sweetness you could ever want from a purposefully sweet breakfast. At the same time, the peanut butter in the custard plus that little pinch of flaky salt on the bananas helps to balance out the sweetness to create the perfect blend in every bite.

This is truly a yummy breakfast. And, that says a lot coming from a savory breakfast lover like me!

Ok, everyone. Tell me...are you team sweet breakfast or team savory? Because, you know I have something for everyone.

I hope you enjoy. And, let's eat!