Triple Sec French Toast

What's crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle, combined with orange, cinnamon, cream, maple, vanilla, AND topped off with caramel and a dash of powdered sugar? It's okay, reading doesn't cost a calorie...

Tipsy's Sunday morning special French toast is big, bold, and bursting with rich flavors! I like the egg rich taste of Challah bread or cinnamon raisin. But you can use any dense bread that you prefer. The orange really jumps out with each mouth-watering bite. You can adjust the ingredients to suit your taste. As long as you have milk and eggs, everything else just enhances the experience!

Triple Sec French Toast

Ingredients

4 - 1" slices of Challah Bread

zest of one orange

1 Tbsp. of Triple Sec orange liqueur

5 eggs

1/2 cup half and half cream

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1 tsp. maple flavoring

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 Tbsp. butter

Topping

1/2 cup maple syrup *See recipe below

3 Tbsp. caramel sauce

4 Tbsp. melted butter

4 tsp. powdered sugar

Directions

Lay Challah bread slices on baking sheet and toast for about five minutes until lightly browned. This gives your final toast a little extra crunch. While the bread is toasting zest one orange and pour liqueur over zest. Let marinate while you whisk together remaining ingredients, except for butter. Then add zest and liqueur to this mixture.

Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Remove toast from oven and dip each slice into egg making sure to soak completely. The bread can tear once wet so be careful when removing it from liquid. Place in skillet and cook approximately 5 to 10 minutes on each side or until toast is browned and has a slightly crisp coating.

While it's cooking, melt your butter, and heat the caramel and maple syrup in separate cups.

Place one or two slices on a plate and drizzle with butter, syrup, a sprinkle of powdered sugar, and a little stream of warm caramel.

* Homemade Maple Syrup

Ingredients

4 cups white sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 cups water

1 tsp. vanilla flavoring

1 tsp. maple flavoring

Directions

During World War II my grandmother made this syrup. Sugar was rationed and she had to use maple tablets because there was no maple flavoring.

Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cool, and refrigerate. The syrup will thicken as it sits and once refrigerated so make a day ahead if possible. It will taste great right away but will not be thick. Once you try this homemade recipe you won't want to go back to the store bought. It has so much more flavor!

If there's one type of liqueur I'd suggest keeping on hand, it's orange. It partners so well with many different types of foods, both savory and sweet. Two that I really like are Triple Sec and Grand Marnier.

Triple sec is inexpensive, light, and all citrusy. Grand Marnier is more expensive, although you can get Gran Gala which works fine. It has a heavier,warm the belly feel because of the cognac incorporated into it.

Instead of mixing only water with that OJ concentrate try half water and half orange liqueur. Use for marinades on chicken or pork or when a recipe calls for orange extract.

It's all about experimenting and having a blast in the kitchen. What interesting techniques have you tried lately?