Egg Nog French Toast

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees or the warming setting. Whisk together the eggs, egg nog and vanilla extract in a bowl roughly the same dimensions as your bread slices and set aside. In a large skillet over medium-low heat, add a tablespoon of the butter. While it is melting, soak one slice of the bread in the egg nog mixture, making sure to soak both sides and that you soak it long enough to penetrate inside. Let any excess batter drip from the bread and then put it in the pan. If your skillet can hold two slices comfortably, soak and add another slice as well. Sprinkle the slices generously with coarse sugar (I like to add this as they’re frying because it doesn’t dissolve as much, feel free to just add it to the batter) and fry until golden brown, then flip and cook the other side. Transfer the cooked slices to a pan in the warmed oven and repeat with remaining ingredients. Once all the French toast has been cooked, add the remaining butter to the pan and increase the heat to medium-high. Swirl it around the pan, watching it carefully, until it bubbles and browns. When it just begins to smell nutty, add the maple syrup in one go and cook it for another minute until it binds and becomes a sauce. Return the French toast to the pan to soak up the maple butter sauce, then serve immediately.