Vegan French Toast with Pecan Butter and Strawberries

Serves 4

Let me just start by saying that pecan butter has got to be one of the most glorious things in life. It does have a high fat content, however, so use sparingly if you are trying to moderate your calorie intake. This spread is gorgeous on vegan french toast, because vegan french toast isn't made with the eggs that give regular french toast most of thier richness.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c. pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. almond milk
• 1 tsp. safflower oil plus some for the pan (you can use whatever oil you like, but safflower is my preference)
• 1 T. flour (use whatever flour you would like)
• 8 slices bread (sometimes bread is made with whey- a derivative of cow's milk, so watch for that on the ingedient list.
• 6 T pecan butter (I purchased mine from a local retailer, but when I figure out how to make my own, I'll be sure to share)
• 1/2 lb. fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
• Powdered sugar, for garnish (optional)

For the batter, thoroughly mix the maple syrup, vanilla, almond milk, oil, and flour  in a shallow dish.

Heat a pan on the stove at medium-high heat. Mix batter ingredients thoroughly in a shallow dish. Spray or brush a little oil into hot pan. Submerge bread in the batter, one slice at at time, turning over in the dish to coat. If you like your french toast custardy, let the batter completely soak in. If you like your french toast less wet, coat quickly on each side and place in pan immediately. The denser your bread, the more batter you will need, so adjust proportions accordingly.

Once bread is coated to your liking, fry in pan until golden on first side, then flip and fry until golden on the other. Once toasts are fried, layer toast, pecan butter, powdered sugar, and strawberries. Enjoy!

I found pre-made pecan butter at the farmers' market. The company that made it is Rose's Creamery, out of Elizabeth, Colorado. You can order their products, including pecan butter from their website here: http://www.rosescreamery.com/nut-butters.html. I want to try their pistachio butter next!

* I know this post has a few refined ingredients. I wrote the recipe and took the photos before I decided to reduce the amount of refined ingredients in my cooking. Feel free to omit the powdered sugar and oil. If you omit the oil in the batter, no biggie. If you omit the oil for the pan, be sure you're using a nonstick pan, othewise the toasts will burn to it, and you'll likely end up with an inedible mess.