Just because you are single doesn’t mean you should have to resort to sad bowls of cereal over the kitchen sink. Besides, knowing how to make French Toast comes in VERY handy later on when you aren’t single. 🙂

I had some leftover Challah bread, slightly stale, a granny smith apple, and some rounds of pancetta I had crisped in the oven yesterday.

(Pancetta rounds – pancetta is a cured but not smoked Italian bacon you can pick up at your local deli counter. Place the thinly sliced rounds of pancetta on a cooling-grid rack placed in a half-sheet pan – put in a 400F degree oven for about 20 minutes or until the pancetta is crisp and brown – keep your eyes on them as they will burn up quickly in a hot oven – cool and drain on a paper towel. You can wrap them gently in more paper towels and cling film and put them in the fridge. They keep very nicely for about 2 weeks, but you likely won’t have them in the fridge that long)

Time for Granny Smith Apple Pie French Toast.

Core, peel and thinly slice one granny smith apple. Put it in a sauce pan with the zest of half a lemon and the juice of the whole thing, 3 tablespoons of sugar, some freshly micro-planed nutmeg and cinnamon, and a cinnamon stick. Simmer until the sugar is dissolved and the apples are soft like pie filling but not so long that you’ve made apple sauce.

While your apples are cooking, slice the challah loaf into 3/4 inch thick slices. In a wide bowl, put a half cup of half-and-half, some kentucky bourbon vanilla, and a fresh egg. Micro-plane in some nutmeg and cinnamon and add some cinnamon extract.

(cinnamon extract – put cinnamon, sugar and water in a saucepan. heat until the sugar is melted and the liquid is a nice cinnamon brown. Pour into a container. Add vodka or rum in an amount equal to the liquid already in the container. seal and put in a dark place. shake it maybe once a day and in two weeks, you have cinnamon extract)

Put the challah into the egg custard mixture making sure to dip both sides, then let the bread sit in the custard mixture until it draws most of it into the bread.

While you are waiting, heat some butter in a frying pan or skillet. Place your custardy bread in the pan and cook until each side is a nice golden brown. Serve with a bit more butter, the apple pie filling, and top off with the pancetta rounds. I also like a little maple syrup, because if you are going to eat, you might as well EAT.

Dig in.