Crispy french toast with raspberry sauce

A few weekends ago, my husband and I rose early, sneaked out of the house and high-tailed it out of the city. Not long after seven, we were taking a window seat at a cozy diner in a quaint suburb and telling the waitress to keep the coffee coming. We had free childcare, and we needed a date.

My breakfast that morning — a plate of french toast with raspberry sauce — was perfect. And because I can't sneak out of the house every Saturday morning, I challenged myself to recreate the recipe for home consumption, and I think it comes pretty close.

Aside from the thick, tangy raspberry sauce (which, in my opinion, is truly superior to tooth-achingly sweet syrups), the exciting twist in this recipe is the crunch.

Here's how you make this decidedly un-soggy breakfast dish:

Crispy french toast

1-2 Tbsp. butter

4 slices bread

1 cup corn flakes

4 eggs

3-4 Tbsp. milk

Place corn flakes in a ziploc bag and crush until the pieces are quite small, but not until they form a powder. Transfer to a shallow dish.

Beat eggs and milk in another shallow dish.

In a skillet, melt butter on medium-low heat.

Dip slices of bread first in the egg mixture, then in the corn flakes.

And fry that bread until it gets a nice golden color. Top with raspberry sauce and powdered sugar.

Raspberry sauce*

3 Tbsp. cornstarch

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

12 oz. frozen raspberries, thawed

In a medium saucepan, dissolve cornstarch and sugar in water. Add raspberries and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Stir for one more minute (the sauce should turn from a pink to red as the cornstarch is activated) and remove from heat. It's done!

*Note: Since this is a breakfast dish, it's nice to have the sauce already prepared (I made it a day in advance, stored it in the fridge and warmed it up in the microwave while the french toast was cooking).