Classic French Toast

Every once in awhile I like to sneak French toast into my pancake routine. Last Saturday morning I did just that, arriving at the local bread shop by 8:30 a.m. in search of a day-old loaf of French brioche. This recipe from Alton Brown of the Food Network produced a classic French toast taste, that was perfectly sweet. I swapped the recipe's half and half for whole milk, which I happened to have in the fridge, and added some cinnamon to the batter. Serve the French toast with bananas, powdered sugar, and real maple syrup for happy bellies.

Blueberry Lavender Scones

Earlier this month, I discussed my new obsession with adding dried lavender to my treats. Well that obsession had my oven preheating at 7:30 this morning. Shortly after opening my eyes, I thought about the fresh, local blueberries in the refrigerator and how nice they would be paired with lavender in scones. This isn't a far stretch from the lavender blueberry pancakes I've been making all summer but scones are different than pancakes, that's a fact. Scones pair well with coffee or tea, and are a perfect match for my yogurt and granola breakfast. Scones are also good for traveling if you eat breakfast on the run.

The base for this recipe is from my standard scone which I shared last September. This recipe has yielded the most consistent results and held up with a few changes today. Early morning baking is typically unplanned baking; inevitably I'm short on at least one ingredient. This morning it was the buttermilk. It's always the buttermilk. A simple substitution of milk and white vinegar works just fine and I've also used soy milk successfully. Of course, neither of these were in the fridge this morning. It's been an all-almond milk summer. We also didn't have white vinegar. I worried for a minute as I looked at the almond milk and apple cider vinegar, hoping there wouldn't be a trace of either flavor in the final product. When I'm standing at the oven in pajamas and slippers, however, I work with what I've got. I'll post the recipe below using buttermilk but if you're stuck like me use the following substitution:

1 tablespoon white vinegar + almost 1 cup milk = 1 cup buttermilk

this morning's substitution: 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar + almost 1 cup almond milk