Start with eggy French toast, waffles or pancakes; top with butter and maple syrup. It’s a sweet and satisfying breakfast. But, if you’re like a lot of people, a rich, sugar-laden meal is too heavy first thing in the morning.

That’s why breakfast as dessert is a restaurant trend that makes sense. The foods are familiar, yet lighter and more sophisticated than what you’d eat in the morning. For example, restaurants are featuring petite pancakes layered with ice cream and hot fudge sauce, or waffles with tropical fruit and ginger sauce.

What’s more, everything is easy to do. You might not have the time to make a three-layer, chocolate-fudge cake for two, but you can flip a short stack, add sauce or a scoop of ice cream (or both) and have a luscious dessert in minutes.

And just because you don’t want that hazy carbohydrate afterglow at 8 a.m. doesn’t mean you wouldn’t welcome it at 9 p.m.

French Toast With Maple-Pecan Ice Cream and Maple Syrup is simply too delicious to serve for breakfast. You’d be distracted for the rest of the day. And if you really want to turn mealtime upside down, serve your dinner dessert in bed.

French Toast With Maple-Pecan Ice Cream and Maple Syrup

Maple-Pecan Ice Cream, storebought or homemade (recipe follows)

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup milk

Dash salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional

4 slices bread (preferably an egg bread like challah or Hawaiian sweet bread), each about 4 inches long

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup maple syrup, heated until warm

If making Maple-Pecan Ice Cream, prepare several hours in advance and let set in freezer.

Just before serving, beat together egg, milk, salt and cinnamon in shallow bowl. Dip bread slices in egg batter, turning to coat both sides well.

Melt butter in medium skillet and add bread slices in 1 layer. Cook over medium heat until golden on bottom side, about 5 minutes. Gently turn over and cook top side until golden, another 3 to 5 minutes.

To serve, arrange 2 slices French toast on each of 2 plates. Top each with scoop of ice cream and ladle on 2 tablespoons maple syrup. Serve immediately.

Yield: 2 servings.

Maple-Pecan Ice Cream

1/4 cup maple sugar (see note)

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup half-and-half

2 egg yolks, beaten

1/3 cup coarsely chopped salted, roasted pecans

Stir together maple sugar, brown sugar, cream and half-and-half in small, heavy-bottomed pan. Cook over low heat until simmering.

Pour 1/2 cup hot liquid into egg yolks and mix well. Pour egg mixture back into pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickness of thin pancake batter, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Pour into bowl and refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours.

Pour cold ice cream mixture into ice cream machine and follow manufacturer’s directions for processing. Just as ice cream is firming up, stir in nuts.

Yield: About 2-1/2 cups (5 servings).

Note: Maple sugar is a granulated form of maple syrup and is available in natural food stores, gourmet stores and some supermarkets.