Lazy French Toast

In my humble opinion, the main difference between French toast and bread pudding is the cooking technique.  All the basic ingredients are the same - bread, milk, eggs, cinnamon, etc. Everything else is elective, such as fruit, chocolate, other spices, and so on. French toast should have a crust that's formed when cooked on a griddle, or in a pan. It's that crisp texture that I love the most, especially when it contrasts nicely with the soft center of the toast. In terms of bread pudding, I feel like it shouldn't have that crisp texture. All the ones I've ever had were almost custard-like. And this is the problem with French toast in a cup.  It felt more like bread pudding.

I think almond extract would also work here

Being as this is 'lazy' French toast, the whole thing only took 5 minutes to make, including cooking time. I used Panettone bread instead of regular bread, cut it up into 1.5 inch cubes, and stuffed it into a microwave-safe mug. Then I whisked together some milk, an egg, cinnamon, and a bit of vanilla extract and poured it over the bread and let it soak for a minute or two. Next, popped it into the microwave and nuked it for a total of 2 minutes, starting with one minute and adding 15 seconds every time until it was cooked.

Cubes of Panettone soaked with egg mixture before microwaving

Not going to lie, while it was cooking, the bread and custard mix started to rise and puff up over the edge of the mug, then shrink back down when I opened the microwave to check on it. It almost felt like when Godzilla terrorized the streets of Tokyo or something. One problem I encountered when cooking the French toast in the microwave was determining when it was finished cooking. The top was fine, but I couldn't see the bottom of the mug to check if the egg mixture was still runny. I decided to be on the safe side and nuke it an extra 20 seconds to ensure that the toast was all the way cooked. No stomach aches for me, thanks.

The end result

The verdict? Well, when craving French toast at nearly midnight (or some other random hour), this is enough to satisfy. However, if someone is looking for the good stuff, might as well take the time to make it correctly (meaning take more than 5 minutes). There's no way the microwave can replicate the texture that a pan or griddle will give your toast. Another problem with the microwave is the tendency for the toast to become dense when it cools down, and it'll shrink back inside the cup. Not quite appetizing at that point. There was nothing toast-like about it, except for the flavor and the act of pouring maple syrup over the top. Instead, it felt like a hastily thrown together bread pudding.