This hearty Spiced-Pear Baked French Toast is filled with the warm, comforting flavors of pear and cinnamon – it’s perfect to make the night before a holiday and serve for breakfast the next morning!

This hearty Spiced-Pear Baked French Toast is filled with the warm, comforting flavors of pear and cinnamon - it’s perfect to make the night before a holiday and serve for breakfast the next morning!

While I’m out on maternity leave, please welcome my friend Whitney Reist, a fellow registered dietitian and food blogger from Nashville. Whitney blogs over at SweetCayenne.com. Fun fact about Whitney — she was one of my favorite preceptors during my dietetic internship! 

When it comes to eating around the holidays, I notice that breakfast recipes seem to fall by the wayside to make room for marathon dinner menus, elaborate desserts, and the perfect, bite-sized appetizer. No one has the time (or energy!) to make something special for the early hours of the day! I totally get it. But I’ll always make time for breakfast – after all, we need some fuel for parade/football watching, turkey basting, and gift shopping!

This hearty Spiced-Pear Baked French Toast is filled with the warm, comforting flavors of pear and cinnamon - it’s perfect to make the night before a holiday and serve for breakfast the next morning!

In my family and circle of friends, I’m always the one to remember the breakfast…and usually the one to bring it! I love to start a special holiday or weekend gathering with something special and hearty. A good overnight French Toast recipe is something I can rely on to be easy, fast, and a total crowd-pleaser. I can simply assemble it the night before, let it soak and do it’s thing in the fridge while I sleep, and then pop it into the oven in the morning while I set the table and make coffee. It really could not be easier!

This hearty Spiced-Pear Baked French Toast is filled with the warm, comforting flavors of pear and cinnamon - it’s perfect to make the night before a holiday and serve for breakfast the next morning!

While my Baked French Toast recipe has several variations that depend on the type of bread I want, fruit fillings, and crumb toppings, I love to make a hearty fruit and nut version during the November and December holiday season. When it’s available, I love to go to a nice bakery and pick out a beautiful fruit and nut boule for my French Toast – like a Cranberry Walnut or Cherry Pecan. When I don’t have access to a good bakery, I’ll make the No-Knead Harvest Loaf from King Arthur a couple of days before I need to serve the breakfast. It works out beautifully!

This hearty Spiced-Pear Baked French Toast is filled with the warm, comforting flavors of pear and cinnamon - it’s perfect to make the night before a holiday and serve for breakfast the next morning!

Many French Toast Bakes are loaded with cream, butter, and sugar, but you really don’t need all of that to make a good version! I like to reserve the sugar for a bit of crumb topping, and love to add sauteed fruit to the bread as it soaks. I have found that 1% milk with a bit of half and half works best for forming a custard as the toast bakes. Feel free to use a whole grain or multigrain bread for this recipe, and make sure it is at least a day old. You can always dry it out a bit by slicing it into cubes and letting it sit out for a day before assembling the recipe at night.

This hearty Spiced-Pear Baked French Toast is filled with the warm, comforting flavors of pear and cinnamon - it’s perfect to make the night before a holiday and serve for breakfast the next morning!

I hope you enjoy this easy, make-ahead breakfast at some point this holiday season. I’m sure your family and friends will love it!

This hearty Spiced-Pear Baked French Toast is filled with the warm, comforting flavors of pear and cinnamon - it’s perfect to make the night before a holiday and serve for breakfast the next morning!

Here’s the recipe for Spiced Pear Baked French Toast: 

Spiced Pear Baked French Toast

This hearty Spiced-Pear Baked French Toast is filled with the warm, comforting flavors of pear and cinnamon - it’s perfect to make the night before a holiday and serve for breakfast the next morning!

Author Emily Weeks, RDN, LD

Ingredients

For the spiced pears:

  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • 3 Bartlett or Anjou pears diced into 1’’ pieces (about 3 cups)
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon

For the crumb topping:

  • ½ cup of flour all purpose, white whole wheat, or oat flour will work
  • ½ cup of brown sugar
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ½ stick 4 ounces unsalted butter, cut into cubes

For the French toast:

  • 1 2 pound boule of day-old  whole grain fruit and nut bread, cut into 1’’ cubes (about 7 cups)
  • 2 cups of 1% milk
  • ½ cup of half and half
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp ground nutmeg

Instructions

For the spiced pears:

  1. Place a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Melt the butter in the warm skillet. Add the pears and saute until just tender and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the cinnamon and stir to combine. Set aside to cool completely or chill until ready to assemble the French toast.

For the crumb topping:

  1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add the butter cubes and cut into the flour mixture with your fingers, a fork, or a pastry blender. Cover and chill until ready to use, up to 2 days.

For the French toast:

  1. Grease an 8x10’’ or 9x13’’ casserole pan with cooking spray. Add the bread cubes to the pan. Spoon the spiced pear mixture over the bread cubes.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, half and half, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour this mixture over the bread cubes and pears.
  3. Cover and refrigerate overnight or for a minimum of 8 hours.

Baking and assembly:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350℉.
  2. Remove the French toast pan from the refrigerator, along with the crumb topping. Evenly distribute the crumb topping over the top of the dish.
  3. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until golden brown. It should resemble the texture of bread pudding.
  4. Remove from oven and serve hot with maple syrup. Enjoy!

Whitney Reist is a registered dietitian with professional culinary training living in the Nashville, TN area with her husband, Ryan, who is also an RD. She has professional culinary training from Le Cordon Bleu and writes a food and lifestyle blog, Sweet Cayenne, where she loves to share wholesome recipes that focus on seasonal and high-quality ingredients. She is also very passionate about food-centered travel that involves experiencing new cultures through the local cuisine, and companion flower + vegetable gardening. She really enjoys documenting both of these pastimes on Sweet Cayenne from time to time!

 

This hearty Spiced-Pear Baked French Toast is filled with the warm, comforting flavors of pear and cinnamon - it’s perfect to make the night before a holiday and serve for breakfast the next morning!