Sticky

French toast is one food item that invariably gets the "how do you make it vegan?" inquiry, and understandably so; the dish is known for its fairly simple ingredient list composed namely of bread, eggs, and milk. In over three years of being vegan, I have realized that it is entirely possible to construct deliciously animal-free remakes of old favorites, including the aforementioned breakfast favorite. Unfortunately, my bread-consuming habits aren't usually conducive to stale leftovers--granted, I do actually freeze at least half of what I bake just after it cools--which means that French toast hardly shows up at the table.

That situation may very well change, thanks to a recent discovery of a recipe for caramelized French toast sticks. Immediately drawn to the thought of crunchy, sugar-coated bread in a no-utensils-necessary form, I saved half of the second loaf of last week's batch of sourdough from freezer relegation and vowed not to eat it until it was made into sticky-sweet toast sticks.

(re-posted from Instagram)

My temporary exercise in discipline was certainly worthwhile.

To turn my inspiration recipe vegan, I simply substituted the egg with its flax-meal-and-water equivalent and used almond milk and vegan butter for their respective dairy counterparts. I used raw sugar instead of brown sugar, simply because I like the coarse texture of the former. Rather than melting the sugar-butter mixture in the pan, I smeared a bit of it on the top side of each piece of bread, just before it was to be turned down onto the pan.

And just look at those beauties sparkle.