Toast Up a Yooper Holiday Breakfast Tradition with Trenary Toast

Warm UP your holiday with this U.P. tradition!

While we all know that pasties are a Yooper favorite, have you ever heard of Trenary Toast? This extra stale toast has been staple of Michigan's Upper Peninsula since the 1930s!

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How it All Began:

Trenary Home Bakery began in 1928, founded by Finnish immigrant Jorma Syrannen, whose family brought their traditional bread-making skills to Trenary, Michigan. Their recipe was modeled after the Finnish “Korppu,” or rusk, the predecessor to today’s famous Trenary Toast.

At the heart of Trenary Toast is a sweet, twice-baked bread coated in cinnamon and sugar. Its second trip through the oven removes every bit of moisture, giving the toast its signature extra-loud crunch! Because the bread is extra-hard and crunchy it's typically dunked in a hot beverage to soften it up. However, I just found a new way to consume Trenary Toast that could become my next favorite holiday tradition:

Eggnog Trenary French Toast

The humorous Yooper lifestyle page, Yooper Pasty, recently shared an original recipe for Eggnog Trenary French Toast that has piqued my curiosity and my tastebuds. Here's how you can make your own at home this holiday season:

• In a baking dish, prepare a mixture of 3 eggs, half a cup of eggnog, a dash of salt, and a splash of vanilla.
• Whisk together until well blended.
• Soak six slices of Trenary Cinnamon Toast in the mixture for 30 minutes on each side. NOTE: If you try this with regular bread, soak in mixture only for a minute or so per side. Otherwise the bread will fall apart.
• Fry in butter over medium heat until golden brown. Once you taste this you will make it a Yooper Holiday tradition.

Where to Find It: