Crème Brulee French Toast
One morning, my family decided to have breakfast at Whole Foods. I saw a dish, Creme Brulee French Toast. IT WAS INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS! But at $7.99/lb, it was NOT cheap! Especially since it was super dense and heavy! Yikes!
I had some stale croissants in my freezer, waiting to be turned into a delicious bread pudding. I looked at some various recipes and below is my concoction. Just as tasty as Whole Food’s version but for a fraction of the price!
Makes 1 (9×12 inch) casserole
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons maple syrup
12 mini croissants
6 eggs
1 12 0z. can evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tsp orange extract
1/4 cup sucanat
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter a 9×12 baking dish.
In a saucepan, melt butter with brown sugar and maple syrup just until the mixture begins to boil and brown, like caramel. Pour into baking dish.
Arrange the croissants over the caramel. You may need to make two layers. Press the first layer into the caramel. Spoon some caramel over the first layer and layer croissants on top of the first layer.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, salt, orange extract and sucanat. Pour over bread.
Let bread soak up liquid for 20 minutes. This will depend on the staleness of your bread. Bake for 35 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Cut into square or slices.
**Sucanat is sugar cane natural. I bought mine from Whole Foods but I have seen it at my local Safeway. Mine dissolved easily when I put it in the liquid. You can use white sugar instead of sucanat or just leave it out. The caramel base is SUPER sweet already!