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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!