country french toast shapes

my 3 year old daughter mj is a tough crowd for breakfast. when she sits at the sideboard in the kitchen and chooses her french toast shapes from our assortment of cookie cutters, she gobbles up more breakfast than usual (yea.) i try to squeeze the shapes to the edge of the bread so i can make a rectangle shape out of the extra bread to feed my toddler (who will eat whatever, for now.) i save the bread scraps and crusts from cutting shapes and use them to make seasoned breadcrumbs for dinner- chicken parmigiana. if i'm not in the mood for chicken parm and don't want to waste crusts from making shapes, i cut the bread on the diagonal, crosswise, to make four french toast triangles. those are cute and fun for little fingers to dip in syrup. of course if you're not any fun at all you can make delicious boring old french toast with this.

country french toast
an original recipe by rachelle

2 eggs
1/2 cup milk (try cream!)
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (or nutmeg or allspice)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
4-6 slices bread
1 Tablespoon oil
1 Tablespoon butter

combine sugar, salt and cinnamon in a pie tin. stir well. beat in milk, eggs, and vanilla. cut shapes with cookie cutters in bread. soak bread in mixture until it is absorbed, turning to coat both sides. heat oil and butter in a heavy skillet. place coated bread in medium-hot skillet; cook until browned on both sides. dust with powdered sugar. serve with butter and syrup or with berries and whipped cream.