Caramel Banana Baked French Toast
Courtesy Inquiringchef.com
Do you suddenly find yourself on a budget and with a surplus of bananas and mouths to feed? Then this recipe is for you! It’s a cross somewhat between bread pudding and baked French toast but much firmer and less eggy than a bread pudding. The filling is cooked down bananas with brown sugar, butter and vanilla with caramel sauce, so pretty much everything you need for a diabetic coma.
This will feed roughly 8-10 people depending on portions and was originally baked in a 9in X 13in glass baking dish.
I apologize for not getting an original picture. I’m still figuring out how to do this well.
Total Cook Time (including prep) 1h45 mins. Oven: 350 then to 375 degrees.
Ingredients:
8-9 bananas, the riper the better, though not a requirement 3/4 cups butter- (1 and 1/2 sticks) 1 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar, for liquid inclusion 2 Tsp. vanilla 2 Tbsp. cinnamon 3 cups plus 3-4 Tbs. whole milk plus 1 16 oz container of caramel dip (I used the standard Light House brand) 8 large eggs 1 loaf of white bread, preferably a tad stale
Hardware- very large mixing bowl, whisk, wooden spoon, 9x13in baking dish, ladle, foil.
Method:
Slice all of the bananas and place in a large skillet pan over medium heat with 1 stick of butter and allow to melt. Once melted add your brown sugar and sauté until the bananas start to clump together and gently mash them with your utensil (wooden spoon in my case). They will begin to brown and pull apart almost as if they are separating from the butter. At this stage, at about 5 minutes in, add your 3 Tbsp. of milk and 1 Tbsp of the cinnamon, and like magic the concoction will begin to pull together. Cook an additional 3 minutes or so and continue to mash up the bananas as much as possible. Add 1 Tsp of the vanilla, remove from heat and set aside.
In a very large mixing bowl whisk together remaining milk, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, 1/4 cup brown sugar. Combine well, raise your whisk up through the mixture and if there is egg strands coming up with it, add 1/4 cup more milk and whisk again. Test again, the whisk needs to come out clean from the mixture.
Preheat your oven to 350.
Butter the baking dish on the bottom and sides, lay down six slices of the bread flat, you may needs to squish some of the edges but they will fit. Ladle enough egg mixture to cover all the bread, but not enough for standing liquid. Take 1/2 of the banana mixture and strategically place it around the dish. Do it in chunks as you will need to spread it, and it will be thick, and may rip the bread, so be gentle and take your time. If needed reheat it a bit on the stove so it is more spreadable. On top of the banana spread 1/2 of the container of the caramel dip. If it is too thick you can warm it gently in the microwave and spread. Layer another 6 slices of bread, press it down into the pan, and repeat process.
After you’ve spread the second half of the caramel dip, take a few more slices of bread and tear them up. Place it over the caramel sauce in your own mosaic style. There should be about 1 and a 1/2 ladles full of egg mixture left. Add it now over the bread pieces and dust with cinnamon.
Wrap with foil and place in the oven for 1 hour at 350. Remove from oven, remove the foil and using the remaining butter, cut it into small pieces and place it all over the top of the bread. Raise your oven to 375 and put back in the oven for an additional 30 mins, but watch it so it doesn’t burn. Oven time here may vary depending on your model.
Remove and serve with vanilla ice cream!