I always get a ton of food wishes this time of year for creative brunch ideas, and I was thinking about doing some new type of eggs Benedict , when I happened to see a photo of a Monte Cristo sandwich. At first, it just made me want a Monte Cristo sandwich, but after that wore off, I started thinking about how I’d seen these topped with fried eggs before. Long story short, I decided to simply make an open-faced version of the famous stuffed sandwich, and top it with poached eggs , and hopefully a new American brunch classic was born. Of course, I'll let you decide, but t here was nothing I didn’t love about this plate of food. Okay, the salad was kind of phoned in, but the rest was awesome. The base is a variation of our famous Restaurant Style French Toast recipe , which marries perfectly with the ham, cheddar and havarti. It was so tasty you really don’t even need the poached eggs. Actually, forget I said that. Do the eggs. If only so you can pop those yolks, and watch them run. Besides the eating, that has to be the best part. I’ve also re-posted a poached eggs demo below, since poaching your eggs ahead of time is the only way to go, especially if you have a larger group. By the way, you can hold the Monte Cristo bases in a warm oven while you pull the rest of the meal together. I hope you give this new Benedict a try soon. Enjoy! Ingredients for 4 portions: For the batter: 2 large eggs 1/4 cup cream 1 tbsp sugar pinch of salt pinch of ca yenne 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1/8 tsp allspice 4 thick slices of French bread 1 tbsp butter 8 slices ham 4 slices cheddar cheese 4 slices havarti cheese 8 poached eggs chive to garnish How to Poach Eggs