Caramelized French Toast with Cinnamon and Berries

Um, yum. This recipe ups the crunchy outside, pudding-y inside deliciousness of French toast by the nth degree by using brown sugar butter. The caramelized brown sugar produces a beautiful toffee color on the toast surface as well. What I really love is that the ingredients that make the difference here are simple pantry ingredients-- brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg-- that take only a few minutes to add. The only downside here is the time to soften butter; I find there is rarely an hour prior to breakfast to let butter sit. The first time I made this I made the butter ahead of time and refrigerated, which doesn't quite work because you need the butter soft in the second application after you flip the toast over. Although I hate doing it, I think this calls for the microwave.