Caramel French Toast

Photo by Katie Kay

Take note, this is an overnight French Toast recipe, so don't look at the pretty pictures without reading the recipe, then wake up at 8am in the morning with big promises to little kids, thinking you can whip up some of this sticky sweet goodness!  You'll be about 8 hours short.
I don't like cooking in the kitchen once I've already entered my evening relaxation time.  Once dinner is done and the kitchen is clean with lights off, I want to leave it that way.  But thankfully this recipe prepares quickly, and from start to fridge it only took me about 20 minutes with minimal mess.  It was an easy recipe to make, especially the caramel.  I hadn't heard of a caramel recipe that calls for dumping everything in a pan and cooking it all at once, but it turned out dark, thick, and perfectly sweet.
Jenson ate 3 bites of his French Toast, then asked for Cheerios.  Kaylen liked it but it was too sweet to finish, so she ate Cheerios, too.  These kids have NO appreciation for the finer things!
I kind of agree with them, it's a very rich recipe.  It almost has too much caramel topping and it masks the flavor and consistency of the bread layer.  Maybe next time I won't use all of the caramel when I prepare it.  Just enough to cover the bottom of the 9x13 pan would probably be enough.

Photo by Katie Kay

Caramel French Toast
Caramel Topping: 1 cup dark brown sugar 6 Tbsp butter 1 Tbsp light corn syrup 1/3 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
French Toast: 1 round loaf Hawaiian Sweet Bread 3 eggs 1/2 cup milk 1 tsp vanilla pinch of salt
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, then add remaining caramel ingredients.  Stir frequently until caramel is smooth and thinned, and sugar is completely dissolved, about 5-8 minutes.  Do not boil.
Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray, then pour caramel topping into bottom of pan and set aside.
Cut Hawaiian loaf into 1" oval slices, then rotate and cut once down the middle to halve each slice.
Crack eggs into a bowl and stir with a fork.  Add remaining ingredients and stir well.  Dip each bread slice into egg mixture on both sides, soaking each slice very well.  Lay the slices of bread on top of the caramel mixture in your pan.  I was able to squeeze 8 halves in my pan.  Cover pan and refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours.
Preheat oven to 400, then bake uncovered for 25 minutes.  Let sit for 3 minutes, then invert pan onto serving platter and serve immediately.
Tip:  If you don't have a serving platter large enough to invert your pan, you can use another 9x13 pan and invert the French Toast from one pan directly into another.
Source:  Six Sisters' Stuff