The 1924 3-Ingredient Toast Recipe That Will Sate Any Sweet Tooth

The intricacy and presentation of recipes in popular media has changed a lot in the past century. These days, you'd be hard-pressed to find a three-ingredient breakfast preparation that didn't make use of at least one eye-catching ingredient — and certainly not one without a photo. But just because times have changed doesn't mean there isn't merit in those simple old recipes. Looking back to 1924, there is one such recipe in the earliest issues of Better Homes and Gardens.

The three ingredients used in this recipe are bread, cream cheese, and white sugar, but the recipe is not quite so simple as just topping cream cheese toast with a sprinkle of sweetener — there's a bit more technique to it than that. The instructions dictate that the 12 slices of bread be topped with half a pound of sliced cream cheese and then thickly covered with a two-thirds cup of sugar before being toasted in the oven. As it heats, the bread toasts, the cream cheese melts, and the sugar turns to a sweet, syrupy liquid that coats it all and provides plenty of sweetness.

Despite its simplicity, this recipe is not your typical morning toast. You can think of it as something like a deeply pared-down classic cheesecake recipe, with the warming cream cheese changing texture and the melting sugar providing the last flourish to deliver the sweet, tangy, and slightly savory flavor of that favorite dessert. Of course, there's no reason that you need to stop at just these three ingredients. With a bit of creativity, this recipe can be the base for all sorts of interesting new breakfasts.

The first place that you might look for inspiration is in other sweet toast recipes, like cinnamon toast. Simply starting with a balance of cinnamon and sugar for your sweet topping already adds another aromatic element, but there are also many ways to upgrade cinnamon toast that will also be effective here. Mixing in other warm baking spices like allspice, nutmeg, or cardamom bring intriguing layers, and a handful of chopped nuts adds both flavor and texture to this simple breakfast.

Opening your culinary mind to the sweet toast recipes of other countries can also provide some interesting inspiration. While not common in the U.S., sprinkles are often paired with sliced bread in some parts of the world. Whether it's the colorful Australian fairy bread, or the chocolatey Dutch hagelslag, sprinkles and bread make surprisingly popular treats. In this case, you may want to add them after the cream cheese is warmed so that they retain their structure and appearance.

A third avenue for personalizing this recipe is to shift away from breakfast and draw ideas from cheesecake instead. Sticking to ingredients that are already in your breakfast repertoire, this could mean swapping some or all of the sugar for a bit of fruit jam instead. Or, for a cheesecake crossover that may be a bit decadent for a weekday breakfast, topping these toasts with chocolate, pecans, and caramel sauce (in the style of a turtle cheesecake) would certainly be delicious.

Cream cheese and sugar are certainly unexpected toast toppings in the current culinary scene. Sometimes, though, it pays to look to the past. This simple three-ingredient recipe could surely make a comeback, especially with a bit of modern creative flair to dress it up.