Croissant French Toast With Soft Caramel Apples

I treat myself to high tea every now and again but on this special day, I invited a couple moms and friends to join us for brunch and play date. I decided to serve my guests with "Croissant French Toast With Soft Caramel Apples," which is a similar item that I have ordered from the Secret Garden Tea Company's "Breakfast In The Garden" menu.

Caramel is uncharted territory for me so I wanted to capture the process every step of the way. 

The sugar started to melt and I was excited at this point!

The sugar looked beautifully carmelized to me so I immediately added the butter.

I think I cut the apples thinner than what the recipe calls but I intended on cutting them thinner anyway.

My caramel seized after I added the apples and I was almost in a panic.

In the midst of what was going on in the pot, I failed to realize that I hadn't folded in all of my apples. I quickly added 2 more sliced apples with 5 minutes left.

The batter for the French toast was ready to go.

I sliced my "Costco Bakery Croissants" and they were dredged and laid on the sizzling hot pan.

Again, the nerves started to set in while I anxiously waited to flip the croissants to the other side.

Ah, success. It was smooth sailing from here...

Now isn't this a beautiful sight? Breakfast fit for a queen (a few queens)!

The recipe for "Croissant French Toast With Soft Caramel Apples" is courtesy of Tyler Florence from FoodNetwork.com.

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch ground cinnamon

Caramel Apples:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut in 1/2-inch-thick wedges
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 large croissants, halved lengthwise
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
• Ground cinnamon, for dusting

Directions

Make the batter for the French toast by whisking together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon until evenly blended. Cover and refrigerate.

Pay close attention while you make the caramel apples - put the sugar in a large dry skillet and place it over medium-low heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the sugar melts and begins to carmelize, about 5 minutes. Be careful; the sugar is really hot at this point. Still stirring, add the butter, which will foam a little. Once the sugar and butter become a caramel sauce, fold in the apple wedges. Now, because the apples are cooler than the sugar, the sugar may start to seize and harden, but don't freak out -- keep stirring, once the apples warm up the caramel will smooth out again. When the caramel sauce starts to form around the apples, pour in the maple syrup. Give it a stir and simmer for about 10 minutes until the apples are fork tender. Pull them off the heat and keep warm until you are ready to serve.

For the French toast itself, warm the butter in a large non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. You probably will only be able to fit a couple of croissants in the pan at once, so prepare these in batches. Take a croissant half and quickly dredge it in the batter. The key word here is quickly; the croissants are very soft and will disintegrate if soaked in the batter. Lay the croissants in the pan, cut-side down, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Carefully flip them over with a spatula and brown the other side.

The presentation is like a caramel apple sandwich - take the bottom half of the croissant and put it on a plate, spoon some of the caramel apples on top of that, and cover with the top 1/2 of the croissant. Dust with confectioners' sugar and cinnamon and serve.