For Great French Toast, Toast It Before You French It

But all too often, it’s soggy all the way through, like a custard-flavored sponge—no thanks! Some recipes call for drying out the bread overnight, but my French toast cravings are too spontaneous for that.

For all your last-minute French toast needs, just call on your toaster.

Toasting hearty sandwich bread (white or whole wheat will do) on your toaster’s lowest setting will dry it out in mere minutes—lightyears faster than drying it on the countertop overnight.

Simply toast it until the bread feels dried out and is very light brown. You may have to toast it twice, but don’t be tempted to crank up that temperature dial—you want the bread to be dry and firm but not really browned.

A few tweaks to your typical French toast custard bring it home: using just egg yolks (versus whole eggs) gave it richness without an eggy flavor, and swapping out white sugar for brown sugar gave it a deeper, more toffee-like flavor.

You can find even more kid-friendly recipes for breakfast and beyond in ATK Kids’ Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs, which brings America’s Test Kitchen’s scientific know-how, rigorous testing, and hands-on learning to help kids in the kitchen.

Hey! Did you know ATK Kids has its very own YouTube channel? Subscribe now and watch great, funny, silly, and delicious cooking videos for the whole family.