Baked Croissant Blueberry French Toast With Crispy Pecans

"Makes a lovely Mother's Day or special occasion brunch. From Mary Ann Vitale of La Taverna restaurant and Sorella della Taverna (in La Jolla, California)."
 
Download
photo by kkfreds photo by kkfreds
photo by kkfreds
Ready In:
50mins
Ingredients:
20
Serves:
6-8
Advertisement

ingredients

Advertisement

directions

  • For the French toast: Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Arrange the croissant halves in the baking dish. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, half-and-half, nutmeg, vanilla, Grand Marnier, orange zest, 1/4 cup brown sugar, white sugar and salt. Pour this mixture over the croissants. Cover the baking dish and chill until all of the liquid is absorbed, at least 2 hours.
  • For the topping: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a shallow baking pan, spread the pecans evenly and toast until fragrant, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and toss pecans with the 1 teaspoon butter and salt.
  • Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over the croissant mixture. Melt 1/4 cup butter with 1/4 cup brown sugar, stirring until the butter is melted. Drizzle this mixture over the baking dish and bake for 20 inutes, or until the liquid from the blueberries is bubbling.
  • For the blueberry syrup: In a small saucepan, cook blueberries and maple syrup over moderate heat until berries have burst, about 3 minutes. Pour syrup through a sieve; stir in the lemon juice.
  • Sprinkle the croissant French toast with toasted pecans. Serve with the syrup.

Questions & Replies

Got a question? Share it with the community!
Advertisement

Reviews

  1. This was a real tasy breakfast! I did change a few things, though. I used orange juice instead of the alcohol, and I didn't have brown sugar (what baker doesn't have brown sugar...) so I just used white sugar. I also didn't see that this had to soak for 2 hours, so it only soaked 30 minutes. Given those changes, it still turned out pretty good. I imagine the texture would be even better, but it still had a light texture. The taste was great! I also almost thought that the lemon was too much when I tasted the syrup. Next time, I will use less lemon - maybe 1 tsp versus 1 Tbsp. When I rate recipes, I give no stars for a recipe that I have changed significantly that (the way I prepared it) would have received anything less than 5 stars. If I try this again, I'll follow it more closely so I feel like I can rate it appropriately.
     
  2. My, oh, my! When I found my croissants beginning to grow mold, I was none too happy but I didn't know this was waiting in the wings! I didn't want to go out shopping, so I made do with what I had on hand and made the following modifications - 1)I cut the croissants in cubes after I cut out the mold spots. 2)I had only five croissants so I reduced the amount of half & half to 1/2 cup. 3)I had no oranges so I added 1/2 tsp of orange extract. 4)I increased the nutmeg to 1/2 tsp 5)I had no blueberries so I just used the pecans, butter and brown sugar on top. It's a rare dish that will rate consumption by 100% of the members of my household, and this was one of them. I'll be tinkering with this one a bit to try to get a healthier version -- but that would leave out the croissants. Maybe when the multigrain bread grows mold. Very easy, nothing tricky about this one.
     
Advertisement

Tweaks

  1. This was a real tasy breakfast! I did change a few things, though. I used orange juice instead of the alcohol, and I didn't have brown sugar (what baker doesn't have brown sugar...) so I just used white sugar. I also didn't see that this had to soak for 2 hours, so it only soaked 30 minutes. Given those changes, it still turned out pretty good. I imagine the texture would be even better, but it still had a light texture. The taste was great! I also almost thought that the lemon was too much when I tasted the syrup. Next time, I will use less lemon - maybe 1 tsp versus 1 Tbsp. When I rate recipes, I give no stars for a recipe that I have changed significantly that (the way I prepared it) would have received anything less than 5 stars. If I try this again, I'll follow it more closely so I feel like I can rate it appropriately.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>Married to my sweetheart for almost forty years and we have two wonderful children who are grown and have flown the coop. Also, we have been blessed with a wonderful son-in-law and beautiful daughter-in-law, plus FIVE grandchildren: two beautiful granddaughters ages five and eight, and three sweet adorable little grandsons ages 2 months, 2 years and 3 years. My husband and I share a combination of English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Dutch, Swiss, Polish, Austrian, German and French heritage, and our son-in-law and daughter-in-law are both Hispanic. We've traveled extensively to many countries abroad (we lived in Germany), and have traveled and lived in several states here in the U.S.A. Many of the recipes I post here are influenced by our combined heritage or from our travels, or they are old family favorites that I want to share with you. I hope you enjoy! Have been to culinary school with many years of cooking (mostly for my family) under my belt, so know my way around a kitchen. And I'm very lucky to have the best sous chef in the world, dddddh! One of my favorite chefs of all time is Jacques Pepin! I have several of his cookbooks, and enjoy watching his television cooking show Fast Food My Way. Another top favorite is Julia Child (of course!). A few other chefs I read/enjoy watching on t.v. are: Giada At Home, Ina Garten's The Barefoot Contessa, Nigella Lawson's Nigella Bites, and Patti's Mexican Kitchen, and many more. On my bucket list is dining at Thomas Keller's establishment The French Laundry in Napa Valley, California... as well as Alice Waters' Chez Panisse in Berkeley, and the James Beard award winning Tartine Bakery and Cafe in San Francisco. One day!! &nbsp; Hobbies/Interests: Decorating with fresh flowers and herbs from the garden is my passion, and brings me deep joy! It's really hard to beat!! I love connecting with others who enjoy the same. Gardening, decorating, sewing, music, dancing, film, and reading are also up there. Spending quality time with my grandchildren, family, and friends (and cooking holiday meals!). Currently, a newfound passion has been so richly rewarding for me: genealogical research. I heart ancestry dot com. And last but certainly not least, I absolutely LOVE cats--we have two half-Siamese fur babies (cats) that allow us to live here!!&nbsp; &nbsp; A Note of Thanks~ I try to personally thank everyone who kindly makes and reviews my recipes, but sometimes I am busy, late, or may forget. Please know that I am always humbled that you would try one of my recipes, and I enjoy reading the reviews and seeing all the pretty photographs. Thanks so much!&nbsp;</p>
 
View Full Profile
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Find More Recipes