Upside Down French Toast - Weekend Recipe

This is a Tyler Florence recipe that I adapted with my Cinnful Dessert Blend.  I will say, make sure you make this is in a well-seasoned cast iron pan or dutch over, because contact with unseasoned cast iron makes cranberries turn black.  We used a dutch oven which is coated so that would not happen.

Upside Down French Toast

4 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon Backyard Patch Cinnful Dessert Blend
1/2 loaf challah bread, cut into 1 inch-thick slices
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 cup light brown sugar, plus more for sprinkling, divided
4 Granny Smith apples
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Confectioners' sugar, garnish, optional

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a flat dish, crack eggs and add milk, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Whisk until well combined then lay challah slices in mixture to coat and absorb it all, turning occasionally.

Set a 10-inch skillet, seasoned cast iron if you have, over medium heat. Add the butter and 1 cup sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar has melted and caramelized, about 8 minutes. While the sugar is melting, peel apples, core and cut into halves. Remove from heat and gently whisk in the heavy cream. Sprinkle in the pecans, dried cranberries and gently press in the apple halves so there is a flat surface. Lay soaked slices of challah over the top so it is completely covered - you should be able to arrange the large slices and small slices so there are no gaps. Sprinkle the top with some brown sugar and place into the preheated oven. Bake in the middle of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes until the top is golden and puffy.

When done, allow to cool for 2 to 3 minutes then invert onto a large plate. Dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired, and serve.

French Toast Day

Okay it is Monday and this is a great day for leftovers, so why not use up the left over bread and biscuits and make some French Toast.

Nobody knows for sure how French toast began, but recipes date back to the sixteenth century. In France, it was called pan perdu or lost bread, because it was a way of using lost (stale, unusable) bread. In England, it was known as "poor knight's pudding"—a basic, affordable dish that a family with a few chickens and a cow could afford. 

Simple French Toast

Serves 4 

• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla (optional)
• 4 slices of bread, air dried or day old is best.
• Beat egg and vanilla in shallow dish. Stir in milk. Dip bread in egg mixture, turning to coat both sides evenly. Cook bread slices on lightly greased nonstick griddle or skillet on medium heat until browned on both sides.

Kitchen Note:  Make a Holiday Special French Toast or Pancakes

Stir ½ teaspoon of Backyard Patch Cinnful Dessert Blend into every 2 cups of French toast custard (egg-milk mixture) or 2 cups of pancake batter before cooking.