The other day, Taryn and I were talking about making French toast, but we wanted to do something different with it than what we’ve done in the past. I suggested making French toast sticks with a yummy dip, and then Taryn came up with the idea to make a lemon curd, and use cardamom, vanilla, and cinnamon as the main spices for the dish.

Lemon, vanilla, cardamom, and cinnamon are four flavors that work perfectly together. The flavor of ground cardamom is already reminiscent of lemon and vanilla, which makes it an ideal companion. It also has a way of bringing the lemon and vanilla together in a recipe that makes them taste more harmonious than they would by themselves. And cinnamon, well… cinnamon tastes good on anything sweet. But there is something magical about the way lemon and cinnamon come together to make an extraordinarily delicious flavor combination.

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Eating this French toast made us feel like we were having breakfast at a fancy restaurant. We ate it with fresh strawberries outside on our patio, and pretended we were being waited on by a posh French waiter. We hope you give this recipe a try and have as much fun with it as we did!

Print Cardamom & Cinnamon French Toast Sticks with Vanilla Lemon Curd Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook/Cool Time: 45 minutes Total Time: 50 minutes Yield: About 12 sticks Serving Size: 3 sticks Golden brown French toast sticks lightly seasoned with cardamom and cinnamon. Served with a sweet and tangy dipping sauce. Ingredients For the French Toast Loaf of thick French bread cut into strips

1 cup raw cashews soaked overnight or boiled 15 minutes

1 cup soy milk

1/4 cup vanilla bean sugar, or 1/4 cup sugar + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cardamom

For the Vanilla Lemon curd 1 can coconut milk

2 tbsp lemon zest

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp turmeric

3 tbsp cornstarch

3 tbsp brown sugar or maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract Instructions For the French Toast Add cashews, soy milk, sugar, and spices to a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer mixture to a wide bowl. Heat a small amount of vegetable oil and/or vegan margarin in a nonstick frying pan over medium to medium-low heat. Dunk the strips of bread in the cashew cream, coating each side throughly. Once they are coated, use a butter knife to scrape the mix back into the bowl so there is only a thin layer left on the bread. Transfer bread to the frying pan, and fry on all four sides for a few minutes each until golden brown. For the Vanilla Lemon curd In a small saucepan, stir together the lemon zest and coconut milk. Add the cardamom, turmeric, brown sugar and vanilla and turn on medium-low. In a separate bowl, combine the lemon juice and cornstarch and stir until dissolved. Add the mixture to the saucepan and whisk until the ingredients are all combined. Keep whisking the sauce until it begins to thicken, about 15 minutes. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape the sides and the bottom of the saucepan and keep stirring until your sauce is thick and you can see the bottom when you scrape your spoon through it. Refrigerate for a few hours until it firms up. (I cheated and put it in the freezer for 30 minutes). Put the chilled lemon curd in a blender and blend on high until the consistency is smooth and creamy. Notes The total yield for this recipe depends on the size of your bread loaf and how big you cut your strips. We made a large loaf of French bread in our bread machine but only used about half of it. The strips were roughly 1"x5". This recipe makes enough coating and lemon curd for at least 12 strips that size. 3.1 http://veganfoodlover.com/vegan-french-toast-sticks-vanilla-lemon-curd/ VeganFoodLover.com

Special thanks to Gourmet Nuts and Dried Fruit for providing the cashews for this recipe!