Caramelized French Toast with Vanilla Pears - OH MY!

Submitted by Bekah

"Delish! From my local paper"

 

• Ready In: 25mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 4 tablespoons butter (separated)
• 3 large ripe bartlett pears, peeled,cored and sliced
• 1⁄4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons vanilla (separated)
• 2 eggs
• 2⁄3 cup half-and-half
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 slices challah (or other sweet egg bread sliced thick like challah)
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar

directions

1. Melt 2 tbls of the butter in a skillet.
2. Add pears, 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 tsp of the vanilla.
3. Simmer until tender, about 2-3 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and transfer the pears onto a plate.
5. Let them stand a couple minutes to drain, then pour into juices back into the skillet.
6. Using medium-high heat, cook the juices another 4-5 minutes (don't stop stirring!) until they are thick and caramelized.
7. Remove from heat.
8. Beat eggs, half-and-half, sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and cinnamon in a shallow pan.
9. Add the bread slices and let them soak for 2 minutes.
10. Then turn the slices over and let them soak another 2 minutes.
11. Melt 2 tbls butter in large skillet.
12. Sprinkle 1/2 tbls of brown sugar on each side of the bread.
13. Cook over medium high heat about 2-3 minutes per side until crisp.
14. Place the bread on plates and top with a couple pears, the carmel sauce and some vanilla ice cream if desired.
15. ENJOY!

Reviews

[MooseCall]

wow this is really really good! I cooked this for my roomates for a sunday brunch. the recipe is simple enough, and the smell was just soooo mouthwatering. word of caution, make sure you use a different skillet or a cleaned skillet before you cook the toast. we didn't do that and the little bit of cararmel sauce left in the pan kinda bunrt (which smelled even better, but that's not the point :). I brought "day-old" challah from a very nice bakery for half the price, and it tasted yummy all the same. Thank you, I will forward this recipe to all my friends!

 

[PaulaG]

This was my pear weekend. I reduced the recipe to 2 servings using Splenda brown sugar blend for the sauce. I did find that it is necessary to watch the bread closely as the brown sugar sprinkled on burns easy. My pears/brown sugar combo never really produced a sauce possibly due to the use of Splenda but the pears were nicely glazed. I did sprinkle in a couple of tablespoons chopped pecans into the mix. A nice brunch treat.

 

[DoveChocolatierinKY]

Ah, I just kept burning the sugar, darnnit! I'll have to make it again, but from what I could tell (thru various burnt pieces), AMAZING! Maybe I should NOT do these in a cast iron???

 

[soulever]

I didn't have pears to make this, but it was absolutely delicious nonetheless. We sliced a raw banana to keep on the side instead. My only suggestion is to really keep an eye on the caramel sauce, ours nearly turned into toffee since we started heating it before we began cooking the bread.