Baked Upside Down Apple French Toast

Let's say a big thanks to Tyler Florence for this great recipe. I'm not a big french toast eater but after watching Tyler Florence make this, I had to have it. I woke up late this morning to my mother's impatience and hunger. It's my last day at home before I go back to school so I figured I'd make a nice breakfast. Well, breakfast doesn't start at 11 in my house, not to mention this takes 45 minutes to bake. So breakfast will in fact be at 12:30. I'm writing this now as it's in the oven and it smells delicious. Although it was one of those mornings where everything was annoying, my coffee was cold and my mom was mothering, I think this may just fix it.

4 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 loaf challah bread, cut into 1 inch-thick slices

1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 cup light brown sugar, plus more for sprinkling, divided
4 Granny Smith apples
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Confectioners' sugar, garnish, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees 

In a flat dish, crack eggs and add milk, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Whisk until well combined then lay challah slices in mixture to coat and absorb it all, turning occasionally.

Set a 10-inch skillet, seasoned cast iron if you have, over medium heat. Add the butter and 1 cup sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar has melted and caramelized, about 8 minutes. 

While the sugar is melting, peel apples, core and cut into halves.

Remove from heat and gently whisk in the heavy cream

Sprinkle in the pecans, dried cranberries and gently press the apple halves so there is a flat surface. (I forgot to take a picture of the apple step, sorry!)

Lay soaked slices of challah over the top so it is completely covered - you should be able to arrange the large slices and small slices so there are no gaps. Sprinkle the top with some brown sugar and place into the preheated oven

Bake in the middle of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes until the top is golden and puffy.

When done, allow to cool for 2 to 3 minutes then invert onto a large plate. Dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired

Serve and enjoy!

This was in fact, delicious. It's so sweet it tastes almost like a dessert. My mom and I were brainstorming and we thought of a few variations to the recipe. A few of our ideas were pear instead of apple, walnuts instead of pecans and nutella or dulce de leche instead of caramelized brown sugar. Yum, yum, yum.