For a Special Valentine's Day Breakfast - Caramelized French Toast

 If you want to start out your day decadently, may I suggest Caramelized French Toast?

This would be a perfect Valentine's Day breakfast if you're into celebrating that sort of thing. It's a dish for a special occasion; or you can make any occasion special by making this dish.  Both luxurious and indulgent, it's a delicious breakfast with irresistible textures and flavors that combines classic French toast with something similar to crème brûlée. 

One of the features I particularly like about this breakfast is that it's all put together the night before.  The only thing you have to do in the morning is bake it and prepare a whipped cream topping. 

For the bread, I used my own homemade white bread, but you could use any good white bread from the deli.  The main thing is you want a bread with texture, substance, and body.  This is NOT a dish for Wonder bread.  

 

First I made a rich custard sauce and put thick slices of my homemade bread in the custard bath.  While the slices were soaking, I made a light caramel sauce.  Next I poured the caramel in my baking dish, placed the bread slices on top of the caramel, and poured any remaining custard over the slices.  Covered and left in the fridge overnight to soak up as much custard as possible.  The next morning, I heated the oven to 350° and baked until it was golden and caramelized.

 

Spatula out the toasts, turning over when plating, so the caramel is on top. Spoon up more caramel in the baking dish and pour over top of the toasts, letting the caramel drip away down the sides.

 

Add your accoutrements:

toasted nuts (I like pecans.) 

whipped cream

a dusting of powdered sugar

assortment of fruits - sliced strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, for starters 

 Caramelized French Toast

 Ingredients

1 loaf of good bread, sliced about 1 inch thick  (homemade, challah, brioche, French, or Italian bread from deli/bakery)

(Plan on about 10 slices for a 9 x 13 inch pan.)

 Custard:

 5 eggs

1 ½ cups heavy cream

1 TB vanilla extract

¼ tsp salt

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until frothy.  Beat in cream, extract, and salt.

Place bread slices in the custard, moving the bread around occasionally so it soaks up the custard, while you prepare the caramel.

 Caramel:

 1 stick unsalted butter

½ cup brown sugar

2 TB corn syrup

In small sauce pan, melt butter.  Stir in brown sugar and syrup, cooking over medium-low heat, until mixture is smooth and bubbly.

Pour the caramel mixture into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, turning the pan to evenly distribute the caramel.

 Assembly:

 Place the bread slices in a single layer on top of the caramel.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 

 Bake:

Bake the French Toast casserole in a 350° oven for about 45 minutes.  I rotated the pan at half-time.  You want the top golden brown and the custard set. 

Let rest about 5 minutes before serving.

 Serving suggestions:

 When you plate the toasts, invert the slices so the caramel is on top. Spoon more caramel over the toasts.

 

 I served this with whipped cream, toasted pecans, and fresh fruits.  The whipped cream adds an ethereal counterpoint to the creamy, custard-soaked toasts. Toasting any nut enhances its flavor.  As for the fruits, you could use whatever you like.  I was partial to blueberries, blackberries, and sliced strawberries.  If you like, you can dust your final creation with powdered sugar.

 

Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy cream

2 TB sugar

1 TB vanilla 

Whenever I whip cream, I always have the beaters and my glass bowl well-chilled.  Stick them in the freezer at least 20 minutes before you start whipping.  The reason for this is to keep the cream cold throughout the whipping process. The fat globules in the cream stay solid and stable when they’re cold, which results in trapping air, creating structure, and ending up with a proper whipped cream.  I don’t use plastic bowls since no matter how you wash them, they can still retain oils, and they don’t hold the cold as well. 

Start beating the cold cream on low, increasing speed as the cream thickens.  At soft-peak stage, beat in sugar, then vanilla, beating almost to stiff-peak stage.   Keep chilled until ready to use.

You can with spoon the whipped cream over top in luscious plops or you can use a star tip and decoratively pipe the whipped cream over the toasts.

This caramelized French Toast delivers the perfect sumptuous balance of creaminess, of caramel, of crunchy nuttiness, of fresh fruit, and of airy whipped cream.  Every bite is a treat of culinary divinity. 

 For the step-by-steps:

 Make the custard.

 Beat well.

Let bread slices soak in custard.

Make caramel base.

Golden, bubbly deliciousity!

Pour caramel into baking dish.

Place slices in single layer on top of caramel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pour any remaining custard over bread slices.  Cover and let sit overnight in fridge.

 

Ready for baking.

Done.

Easy.

Enjoy.