Baked Blueberry-Pecan French Toast with Blueberry Sauce

By commercecook

In this recipe the French toast is soaked overnight like bread pudding. In the morning, all you need to do is add the topping and pop it into the oven. Serve it with coffee, juice, and fresh fruit and you've got a great way to start the day.

Ingredients

• For Syrup:
• a 24 inch baguette
• 6 large eggs
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup pecans, about 3 ounces
• 1/2 stick plus
• 1 teaspoon unsalted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups blueberries, about 12 ounces
• 1 cup blueberries, about 6 ounces
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Preparation

Step 1

Butter a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Cut twenty 1-inch slices from baguette and arrange in one layer in baking dish. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, nutmeg, vanilla and 3/4 cup brown sugar and pour evenly over bread. Chill mixture, covered, until all liquid is absorbed by bread, at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a shallow baking pan spread pecans evenly and toast in the middle of oven until fragrant, about 8 minutes. Toss pecans in pan with 1 teaspoon butter and salt.

Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees.

Sprinkle pecans and blueberries over bread mixture. Cut 1/2 stick butter into pieces and in a small saucepan heat the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar, stirring, until butter melted. Drizzle butter mixture over bread and bake mixture 20 minutes, or until any liquid from blueberries is bubbling.

Make syrup while French toast is baking: In a small saucepan cook blueberries and maple syrup over moderate heat until berries have burst, about 3 minutes. Pour syrup through a sieve into a heatproof pitcher, pressing on solids and stir in lemon juice. Syrup may be made 1 day in aheat and chilled, covered. Reheat syrup before serving.

Serve French toast with syrup.