Grand Marnier Brioche French Toast

After a morning walk on the beach, we like to kick-off the day with a little breakfast for our guests. A true crowd pleaser is a tasty version of French toast made with cinnamon swirl brioche and a good dose of Grand Marnier. I melt the butter, mix in syrup and heat together, serving it on the side. The party warriors from the night before, of course, are looking for not only some food, but they also don’t mind a reason to have their first drink of the day at 9 a.m., so we also make an adult breakfast drink to wash it all down.

Ingredients 

• 4 extra large eggs
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 1/2 cup Grand Marnier
• 1 teaspoon of top quality vanilla extract
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Sliced cinnamon swirl brioche or just plain brioche cut to 1/2 inch slices
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• Maple syrup, preferably made in New Hampshire **See Below**
• Serve with roasted bacon

Making It

• Beat the eggs, cream, Grand Marnier, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar in a bowl, dip the bread and cook on a buttered non-stick pan, until golden brown on each side, usually 3-4 minutes
• Melt the stick of butter and add the syrup to heat, serve on the side
• Serve hot

When I was growing up in New Hampshire, we would go over to Orford just north of Hanover to Thomson’s Mt Cube Farm to attend the annual sugaring-off party.  This was a celebration of tapping the trees for syrup before processing it for consumption.  You would take fresh snow and put the refreshing processed syrup over it.  There would also be some drinks served and people would start wearing the cloth bags used in the processing. I still try to use syrup from the Granite State and every time I pour a splash, I think about the days in Orford.