Fall Friday breakfast: French toast and hot cocoa

You don't need me to tell you that French toast made out of chala leftovers is awesome. What I will add, though, is that Israeli date syrup makes a fine maple syrup substitute. On this occasion, we didn't even have that, so I resorted to spreading a thin layer of raspberry jam and coating with some fresh real whipped cream.

To adapt a joke from P&R, it wasn't really that amazing, OH WAIT IT SUPER WAS.

The hot cocoa was a recipe, again, from Jeffrey Steingarten. It's basically half a chocolate bar shaved down and stirred into boiling milk, along with some cocoa powder and sugar. I'd never have thought of adding cocoa powder, but it retrospect it seems so obvious. The other step I wouldn't have thought of is to stick blend the cocoa for a few minutes at the end to really emulsify everything, and give the cocoa a rich foam on top.

French Toast for Two

• ... A July 4th treat! (Plus we had leftover chala that needed to be eaten.) French toast is great because you probably always have the necessary ingredients around. While there are many variations, this is probably one of the simplest.
• 
  
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 6 slices white bread (or any kind of bread)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 
  
• -In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs. Add the milk, brown sugar and nutmeg; stir well to combine.
• -Soak bread slices in the egg mixture until saturated.
• -Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Brown slices on both sides, sprinkle with cinnamon, powdered sugar, or maple syrup (or in our case, date honey) and serve hot.