Croissant French Toast with Caramelized Apples

On September 23, 2020September 23, 2020 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Recipes4 Comments

Using croissants to make French Toast is something that we would make when we wanted to have a fancier breakfast. The nooks and crannies in the inside of the croissants soaks up the custard and makes them different than using traditional bread. Also, unlike regular bread, you don’t want the croissants to be stale, but instead fresh and soft. Adding the caramelized apples makes it a perfect dish for autumn and if you add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to it, it also makes a wonderful dessert. Although it feels fancy, it isn’t really difficult to make and the presentation is really nice. We actually chose to make this for dinner because we love having breakfast for dinner sometimes, especially since we don’t eat breakfast often due to our busy days.

INGREDIENTS

4 Fresh Croissants – cut in half lengthwise
6 Granny Smith Apples – peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2 inch slices
3 Large Eggs
1/4 cup Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/8 tsp Ground Cinnamon
Pinch Fresh Nutmeg
1/2 cup White Sugar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Maple Syrup
6 tbsp Unsalted Butter
Powdered Sugar for dusting

INSTRUCTIONS

Put the white sugar into a large, non-stick skillet and heat over medium-low heat. As the pan gets hot, the sugar will start to melt and turn to liquid. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for another 2 to 3 minutes or until it turns a light brown. Add 3 tablespoons of butter, which will cause the caramel sauce to foam, continue to stir until it is smooth once again. Add the apples and slowly stir. The caramel will likely seize up a little until the apples come up to temperature and then it will loosen once again. Once it the caramel is loose again, add the syrup and brown sugar and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the apples are tender. Remove from the heat and set aside. In a bowl, mix the eggs, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Run the nutmeg across a microplane once or twice over the bowl. Whisk everything together until the custard is smooth. Heat another skillet over medium-high heat and the other 3 tablespoons of butter. Working in batches, dredge the croissants through the custard mixture and quickly transfer to the skillet, cut-side down. After it starts to cook, gently press down on the croissant with the back of a spatula, this will ensure that the croissant cooks more evenly. After the bottom begins to brown, flip the croissants and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. To serve, place 2 of the croissant half French toast onto a plate, spoon a quarter of the caramel apple mixture over the French toast, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Croissant French Toast with Caramelized Apples

Sweet Rewards

On May 3, 2017 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany, Recipes6 Comments

We don’t usually eat sweets or desserts, but occasionally we do indulge in something a little decadent. During our time in Europe, we did allow ourselves to have a few special treats. Obviously, we couldn’t leave Germany without having apple strudel, but we also love a good cheesecake, so that is often our go-to dessert when we do decide to have something sweet.

Even though we may not have dessert very often, one thing we learned was that European’s definitely make wonderful cakes, pies, and other sweets. We would have loved to try even more of the incredible sweets that we saw, but we were too often full from the heavy meals of the season. We will just have to schedule a return trip so that we can try even more specialties.

Perhaps in the future, we will skip the main meal so that we can concentrate on the various pastries, cakes, custards, and pies. Until then, we will just have to look back fondly at what we were able to enjoy.

Miniature Apple Pies

On December 2, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Recipes1 Comment

We were thinking about what to do for dessert on Thanksgiving and we decided to go with apple pie instead of doing our traditional pumpkin cheesecake (which is also delicious). We try to make the holidays, or anytime we entertain, as relaxing as possible, so we try to prep as much ahead of time as possible. We also like the idea of individual portions, so the miniature pies worked out perfectly. We didn’t make the pies in advance, though, so we were left trying to figure how to make the pies without having to do a bunch of last-minute prepping. It was our daughter who came up with the ideal solution. We cooked the filling in a slow cooker, allowing us to focus on dinner while the apples simmered away during the day. It turned out perfect. The original pie recipe was from one of our mothers, the miniature pie maker was a gift from our other mother, and our daughter came up with the idea to slow cook the filling, truly a family affair. Not only did it turn out to be easy to make, but it was truly delicious. Although we made miniature pies, the same recipe will work for a regular pie, you would just double the recipe and bake the filling inside of the pie crust instead of making it ahead of time.

Ingredients

4 Granny Smith Apples – cored, peeled, and diced
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Fresh Grated Nutmeg
1 tbsp Flour
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1 tsp Unsalted Butter
2 sheets Pie Crust – pre-made or you can make your own
Dash of Salt

Instructions

Spray the inside of a slow cooker with cooking spray and turn on to low. Core, peel, and dice the apples and add to the slow cooker. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, sugar, butter, and salt. Stir the apples until they are well coated. Cover and simmer on low in the slow cooker for about 6 hours, stirring occasionally, until the filling is juicy and the apples are tender. Turn off the slow cooker and let the filling cool to room temperature. Following the instructions for the miniature pie maker, place the bottom crusts into the pie maker, add the filling, place the top crust over the filling and cook for 8 to 12 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Makes 4 miniature pies.