When I hear people say they’re “not break people” it’s game over for me. Breakfast is the reason I go to sleep each night and the reason I wake with a slight excitement. The person who first told us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day was not wrong and who are we to go against such sound advice?

 

For me, pancakes will always be top choice – for reasons I feel I don’t need to explain. They take me to my happy place and the perfect medicine for someone with an extreme sweet tooth! Close behind however is the French toast, in all its cinnamony, eggy, grilled glory! Usually I love to top it with fresh fruit and some cream or natural yoghurt until I had some overripe bananas looking sad and sorry for themselves and the caramelised banana sensation was discovered! I have Fern Green to thank for her maple butter recipe, found in her book Breakfast. It’s a gorgeous book and just further proof that Breakfast is the best meal of the day. 

Ingredients (serves 2, just double for a larger party):

For the toast –

• 2 eggs
• 2 thick slices of white bread or Brioche loaf 
• 60ml milk
• 1/2tsp cinnamon
• knob of butter
• 1/4tsp good quality Vanilla extract (optional)

For the maple butter –

• 110g softened butter
• 50ml Maple Syrup
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

For the caramelised bananas-

• 2 overripe bananas, peeled and sliced in half (horizontally)
• 50g castersugar
• 1/2 tsp good quality Vanilla extract
• 1 and a 1/2 tbsp hot water
• knob of butter

Method:

1. Make the maple butter beforehand by mixing together the soft butter with the Maple Syrup and almond extract in a bowl. You can whizz with an electric whisk if you like. Once all the ingredients has come together, stick in the fridge and start making your French Toast mixture
2. Whisk the eggs together with the milk into a large shallow bowl (basically big enough to fit a slice of bread into it) then add the cinnamon (and Vanilla if using) and whisk again. Place your first piece of bread into the bowl, leaving 2-3 mins on each side
3. As your bread is soaking, you can begin to caramelise your bananas. Heat the sugar, vanilla extract and water in a pan over a medium heat until it begins to form a light caramel.Turn down the heat slightly and add the bananas, spooning the caramel over the top of the slices to coat them and then add the butter and leave on the pan for up to 3 minutes. It will bubble away and as long as you’re using a non stick pan, you can just let it do its thing 
4. In a separate pan, add the butter and warm over a medium heat. Place your first piece of bread into the pan and cook on either side for up to 3 minutes or until golden brown
5. Once both the pieces of bread are suitably toasted, place on a plate,  remove the maple butter from the fridge and add a generous teaspoon on top of each piece of toast. As it melts, pour your caramelised bananas on top and enjoy with a decent cuppa, it’ll be the best wake up call yet!

Enjoy, Nic x

Love breakfast? Try some of my other breakfast recipes here including Peanut Butter pancakes and Pumpkin Spice pancakes.