Breakfast: Maple-Cinnamon Toast With Citrus and Crème Fraîche

Recipe by Alison Roman The cinnamon butter will saturate the bread while it bakes, almost like an eggless French toast.

This recipe includes superfoods such as:

Cinnamon

Health benefits of Maple-Cinnamon Toast With Citrus and Crème Fraîche

Cinnamon is one of the best ingredients that someone with insulin sensitivity can eat. Half a teaspoon of cinnamon per day has been shown to be very effective at normalizing blood sugar levels. Cinnamon contains hydroxychalcone, which is thought to enhance the effects of insulin. It has also been suggested that Cinnamon prevents post-meal blood sugar spikes by slowing the gastric emptying rate - meaning that food digests slowly. (Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11506060).

Ingredients

1 small blood orange or navel orange, very thinly sliced, seeds removed
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Flaky sea salt
2 tablespoons plus 1 cup pure maple syrup
4 (1/2"-thick) slices brioche or challah
1 cup crème fraîche

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 °F. Place orange slices and sugar in a small bowl. Scrape in vanilla seeds; save pod for another use. Toss to coat orange slices.
Mix butter, cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and 2 Tbsp. maple syrup in a medium bowl to combine. Spread cinnamon butter on one side of each piece of brioche. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in oven until brioche is golden brown (the bottoms should be very crisp), 8 –10 minutes.
Place each toast, buttered side down, on plates. Top with crème fraîche and orange slices. Drizzle remaining 1 cup maple syrup over toasts and finish with a sprinkle of salt.