Spiced Pear French Toast

Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• vegetable oil or nonstick cooking spray
• 1 (1 lb) cinnamon raisin bread, crusts removed
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 cups 2% low-fat milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 firm-ripe anjou pears, cored and cut into chunks
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 dash of grated nutmeg
• 1/4 cup maple syrup, plus additional for serving

Recipe

• 1 to prepare the french toast, oil a 13-by-9-inch baking dish or coat it with cooking spray. tear bread into small pieces and scatter in the pan evenly.
• 2 whisk eggs and sugar together in a small bowl. add milk and vanilla; whisk well. pour over bread and press down with a spoon to make sure bread is submerged. cover with foil, pressing gently so that foil is on the surface of bread. refrigerate overnight.
• 3 the next day - keeping foil on baking dish, slide pan into a cold oven. turn oven to 350°f after 25 minutes, remove foil. continue baking until toast is puffed and golden, about 20 minutes.
• 4 to prepare the pears, melt butter in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. add pears; stir until pears are well coated. sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. continue to cook until pears begin to soften, about 3 minutes. pour in 1/4 cup maple syrup. cook until bubbly. remove from heat.
• 5 to serve, slice french toast into individual servings. top with spiced pears. serve with additional maple syrup if desired.