This 2-Ingredient French Toast "Hack" Is Going Viral (It Works — And The Results Truly Shocked Me)
Add this to the list of recipe hacks I never thought I'd see...
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For centuries, families across the globe have started their mornings by soaking slices of day-old bread in eggs and sweetened cream and frying them until crispy and caramelized…or something of the sort. Centuries ago, according to the ancient Roman cookbook known as Apicius, their long-gone civilization sweetened milk with honey, dusting the toast with cinnamon after frying.
Given French toast’s long history, it was only a matter of time until someone took a different approach, one that could only thrive in the digital age.
In April, the TikTok account @joshandmomma, a mother/son duo uploading their daily eats and cooking hacks to the internet, shared a video with their take on the ultimate French toast: slices of white bread, dunked and soaked in a carton of melted vanilla ice cream, and fried until crisp.
While they were not the first TikTok account to share this unconventional method, their video quickly went viral and has been viewed over 30 million times, with other accounts sharing their riff on the hack. TikTok user @ashleymarkletreats slathered heaps of Nutella in between her bread before soaking and frying, and the official Breyers Ice Cream account even gave it a shot.
While the video is shocking at first glance, the science behind it makes sense. After all, ice cream is nothing more than a frozen custard made from sweetened cream and eggs, the same ingredients used in French toast. What turned me off to the idea was not having control over how sweet the final product would end up being. Personally, I prefer my French toast sweetened with lots of maple syrup and little to no sugar used in the cream base itself. Still, I was too curious not to give it a try.
I made my way to my local Dumbo Market and settled on a pint of Häagen-Dazs and a loaf of sliced brioche (which, I knew, would yield several peanut butter and jelly sandwiches over the coming days — huge win). When I got back home, I left the pint of vanilla ice cream on the counter to totally defrost, and an hour and a half later, I was left with a melted soup of cream and sugar.
I preheated my cast iron skillet, the pan that I typically make any other French toast in, and got to dunking.
The brioche was light and airy, and I didn’t want to risk over-sogging the bread, so I quickly dunked the slices on both sides and set them in the pan to fry. The melted ice cream began bubbling and dancing in the pan in an irregular way.
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In the cast iron skillet, the slices stuck to the bottom of the pan, and it was difficult for the toast to maintain its structure...
...so I tried it again in a non-stick pan, which proved far better results.
I plated my French toast, drizzling it with warm maple syrup, and went in for a taste. Taking my first bite, I dreaded the words that I knew I would eventually have to write here for you, BuzzFeed Tasty reader. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that what I expected to be a saccharin explosion of sugar and maple proved to be a miraculously innovative take on a beloved breakfast.
The ice cream French toast, as difficult as it is for me to say, is actually very good. To my surprise, I didn’t find the dish to be too sweet, which I credit to the fact that I don’t find Häagen-Dazs to yield overly-sweet flavors of ice cream. Reading the list of ingredients on the back of the pint, I found that they were all the same ingredients that I would include in French toast if I were making it in a more traditional way. If you were to try this at home, settle on a pint that lists ingredients you can pronounce, free of preservatives and sugar alternatives.
Still, I doubt I’ll find myself returning to the viral ice cream French toast hack. While it may live in the centuries-long historic records of French toast variations like the ancient Romans’ did, I find its relevance exists solely due to its virality. Like the Ice Bucket Challenge or “Renegade” dance that came before it, I believe this French toast hack may not stand the test of time. For my money, I’ll crack a few eggs with some cream into a bowl and get to cooking.
Would you try this French toast "hack"? Give me all your thoughts in the comments.
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