Baked Blueberry Pecan French Toast With Blueberry Syrup

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 cup pecan halves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (12 ounce) baguette, preferably day-old
• 5 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed and divided
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 cups blueberries
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Recipe

• 1 preheat the oven to 350°f
• 2 spread the pecan halves evenly on a baking sheet.
• 3 toast them until fragrant, about 8 minutes.
• 4 sprinkle the salt over the pecans and toss evenly to coat; set aside.
• 5 butter a 9- by 13-inch baking dish.
• 6 cut the baguette into 1 1/2 inch thick slices and arrange them in an even layer in the baking dish. if some of the bread slices won't fit, save them for another use - note that if you stack slices, the cooking time will increase.
• 7 whisk together the eggs, milk, 1/2 cup of the brown sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg in a large bowl, and pour the mixture evenly over the bread. turn the bread slices to coat them evenly.
• 8 chill the mixture, covered with plastic wrap, until all the liquid is absorbed by the bread, at least 8 hours or overnight.
• 9 preheat the oven to 400°f take the baking dish from the refrigerator and let sit for about 30 minutes to take some of the chill off.
• 10 just before baking, sprinkle the pecans and blueberries evenly over the soaked bread.
• 11 combine the butter with the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat, stirring, until the butter is melted. drizzle the butter mixture over the bread.
• 12 bake until blueberry juices are bubbling around the edge of the pan and the bread is heated through, 20 to 25 minutes.
• 13 to make blueberry syrup:.
• 14 cook the blueberries and maple syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until most of the blueberries burst, 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• 15 pour the syrup through a sieve into a heatproof pitcher, pressing on the solids to extract as much blueberry flavor as possible.
• 16 stir in the lemon juice.
• 17 set the pitcher in a pan of warm water to keep warm until ready to serve.