Giveaway: National Toast Day

Giveaway: National Toast Day

As a child, cinnamon toast was the litmus test of illness. If you could choke down a few bites with flat ginger ale or weak tea, then you knew you were going to live. If you couldn’t stomach the toast — or even the thought of food — you were ill indeed and packed off to the doctor.

Although I usually ate cinnamon toast only when ill, today it is a comfort food I turn to on occasion when nothing else appeals. Perhaps it’s the small of toasting bread or the intoxicating mix of melted butter and crunchy cinnamon-laced sugar? Either way, I have a soft spot for cinnamon toast.

Today is National Toast Day and in a valiant attempt to stamp out toast brutality, a sin for which I am guilty, Gay Lea is hosting a giveaway worth $200 giveaway. The basket includes:

  • A year’s supply of Spreadables butter coupons
  • A breakfast cookbook
  • Toast necessities – spreading knives, toast tongs, toast cutter, egg cups, napkins
  • A gift card to Cora’s Restaurant

For the skeptics, Spreadables is not hydrogenated fake food. It’s all natural creamery butter with unsaturated canola oil added to make the it spreadable — hence the name.

The giveaway is open to Ontario residents. To enter, just leave a comment telling me your favourite toast topping. To double dip on this offer, pop over to Facebook and join their National Toast Day online petition. Not only will Gaylea donate a tub of Spreadables to the food bank, your name will be entered in the draw a second time.  I’ll announce the winner on Friday.

For those who live outside the provincial borders, you can still get in on the action. Sign the online petition and they’ll send you a coupon. As further consolation, they’re sharing a French Toast Recipe. Eat some. You’ll feel better.

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Recipe: French Toast Canapes with Blueberry Butter

Summary: Impress guests with this breakfast blast of blueberries or add ice cream on the side and serve as a dessert!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen wild blueberries
  • 1 tub Gay Lea Spreadables Butter
  • 1/4 cup icing sugar
  • 1/2 tsp finely grated orange rind
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 baguette, cut into 1/2-inch (1 cm) thick slices

Instructions

  1. Thaw the blueberries (if necessary). Set aside 2 tbsp of the butter; place remaining butter in food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add 1 cup of the blueberries, the sugar and orange rind. Blend mixture until very smooth; re-pack into tub. Set aside. (Or, mash the blueberries, sugar and rind into a bowl; whip in butter, using a hand mixer, until smooth).
  2. Whisk together eggs, milk, maple syrup and vanilla. In a large nonstick skillet, melt some of the reserved, unflavoured butter over medium heat.
  3. Working in batches, dip baguette slices into egg mixture and transfer to skillet; cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side or until golden. Repeat with remaining bread and egg mixture, adding more butter to the pan as needed. (Make ahead: French toast can be reserved for up to 1 day and reheated in a warm oven before serving).
  4. Arrange French toast on a warm serving platter. Top each slice with a little blueberry butter and sprinkle with a few of the reserved blueberries.

Cooking time (duration): 5

Number of servings (yield): 6

Meal type: breakfast

My rating: 4 stars:  ★★★★☆ 1 review(s)

 

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17 Comments
  • Lisa MacColl
    Posted at 09:27h, 23 March

    First of all, I HATE RAW TOAST…you know, the toast that is barely beige, forget, well, toasted…

    My guilty indulgence on my toast is Cheez Whiz. I know I know…I also like homemade strawberry jam, or honey, or good old butter…but never at the same time.

  • Jill Jones
    Posted at 10:31h, 23 March

    Toast français, composé d’une baguette avec du sirop d’érable véritable. C’est tout! Très simple.

    Jill

  • Donna
    Posted at 12:46h, 23 March

    When I was a little girl, my favourite topping for toast was butter and brown sugar. Today my favourite topping is butter.

  • Donna
    Posted at 12:57h, 23 March

    I heart toast! Its my go to breakfast in a pinch
    I would definitely say my favourite topping is butter but equally as tasty is peanut butter
    So now i’m seriously craving toast AND your amazing french toast recipe 🙂

  • Lisa Toste
    Posted at 14:07h, 23 March

    I Love National TOAST day!!!! (Take a look at my last name…. Can you guess how 99% of people try to pronounce it? …yeah, my nickname has been Toast my whole life) 😉 ..and I get to tell everyone to “stop toast brutality today” hehe

    My Favourite toast topping is: Nutella on one slice, Peanut Butter on the other slice, drizzle honey over the peanut butter, and add some sliced banana, and put those 2 slices together …MmMMmmm best toast sandwich ever!!!!

  • Maryke Whinfield
    Posted at 17:33h, 23 March

    OH… The cruelty!!! I may have to have some toast as a snack now!
    My mouth is watering to try Donna’s “butter and brown sugar” toast. And, I think perhaps that my youngest (16) daughter is somehow related to Lisa Toste. She loves her toast almost exactly the same… just minus the Nutella. That being said, she is now intrigued with the idea of adding the Nutella as an extra hit of sweetness.
    As for my favourite topping….. I’ve always been awfully fond of lots of melted butter with just a thin layer of raspberry jam on top. Yummm!

  • Jan
    Posted at 18:54h, 23 March

    National Toast Day …… who knew?

    Call me boring but butter melting on hot chewy white bread toast is my favourite. In our common room at university we had one of the old-fashioned pull- down-the- sides toasters. I’d leave the slices in until almost done, take them out and spread with butter then put them back in until the butter was hot and the toast nicely browned.

  • cam
    Posted at 21:43h, 23 March

    had my all time fav today actually. wholewheat toast and peanut butter. sadly yes its not that exciting but its certainly tasty….i’m also quite fond of rye bread toasted with pb as well.

    and btw my children just love cinnamon toast (so do i as well!!) and is usually chosen when i’m not making homemade waffles or pancakes. adding a dash of ginger, cloves and cinnamon gives all three a different flair !

  • Sally - My Custard Pie
    Posted at 01:59h, 24 March

    Marmite on toast is the only thing I feel like eating if I’m under the weather. I think it’s the British ‘chicken soup’ equivalent.

  • Kathryn
    Posted at 11:35h, 24 March

    I am definitely one for ‘wimpy’ toast. Lightly, lightly browned, the smothered in butter. Not really one for jam; sometimes honey; and maple butter as a special treat.

  • Maryke Whinfield
    Posted at 17:08h, 24 March

    Hey…..
    My father was just asking me about maple butter!!! Where does one get that????

  • Melissa
    Posted at 19:21h, 24 March

    When I was little I loved cinnamon sugared toast, it was the go to breakfast for my busy mom tryingg to get 3 loud, busy boys out the door to the school bus. When my brothers finally left for school and knowing there was a real breakfast next door I woud go over to my my grandad’s to have toast and eggs. I could always count on him to make me a soft fried egg and spoon it over my toast all oozy and warm. Every summer I would visit my other grandparents where my grandpa would insist that there was nothing better than fresh strawberries, right out of the garden smushed into toast still steaming from the toaster or fresh strawberry jam. Toast is what memories are made of. I can also still remember the times when my brother would sneak marshmellow fluff into the grocery cart. After we got home from grocery shopping we would toast up a half loaf of no name bread and dunk it into the fluff jar like two kids doing something bad and getting away with it. Toast. so simple and so wonderful.

  • josie
    Posted at 07:56h, 25 March

    Call me a purist… butter butter butter!!

  • Amy Proulx
    Posted at 11:36h, 25 March

    Am I too late? Favorite toast topping? Cretons! With baked beans! Yes, cretons looks like cat food from a tin. But once you get past their grey, sludgy appearance they are a real artery clogging delight.

  • Amy Proulx
    Posted at 11:45h, 25 March

    Butter and brown sugar toast, that’s another good one. We would do just that, with our cinnamon sprinkled on top, then back into the toaster oven until the butter and sugar caramelized and the cinnamon smelled glorious. Then the temptation. Guaranteed someone would burn their tongue on the sugar.

    Or fresh white bread, lightly toasted, with butter, then fancy molasses drizzled on top. I learned that one in Newfoundland.

    Charmian, you are so good at torture.

  • Kathryn
    Posted at 12:35h, 28 March

    Hi Maryke,

    I am the lucky winner. Many thanks to Charmian & Gay Lea.

    I have bought my maple butter at craft shows & farmer’s markets. I have also seen it at farm gates. A quick google search showed some online sources also.

    Jan — I still use one of the fold-down toasters. It toasts quickly and I like the control (no pop-up toaster determining the doneness for me).

  • Kathryn
    Posted at 13:25h, 04 April

    Further to the maple butter question, on Saturday, at the St. Lawrence Market (Toronto), there were three farmers with maple butter.