Chai Spiced French Toast with Caramelized Pears

There’s nothing quite like waking up on a Sunday morning, and taking the time to cook up a delicious brunch for yourself. And what better than the smell of french toast and tea to fill your home with the heavenly aroma of comfort!

This french toast recipe is a unique one for those who want a change from the classic french toast with berries on top, which don’t get me wrong is incredible, but can get repetitive. The variety of warm spices still gives you the comfort that you seek on a chilly morning, while the soft pears bring a deep, almost nutty sweetness that pairs perfectly with the smooth flavor of the chai.

I actually used to really dislike french toast. I always found it to be soggy and eggy and basically flavorless. But after trying an amazing french toast dish at a brunch restaurant in Colorado, I realized I clearly wasn’t making it right and I was missing out. After making it my mission to develop a french toast recipe that I actually wanted to eat, I saw how the little changes make a big difference.

Bread

So let’s talk about bread. Nothing is worse than bread that’s soggy and falls apart after being in dunked in custard. Except maybe french toast that has that rubbery tough crust on the outside. It’s about finding a happy medium. There are three big things: the types, the slices, and the staleness.

When you’re at the grocery store, look for soft breads, since they will soak up the most custard. Try to stay away from harder breads with tough crusts, like baguettes. Instead opt for softer buttery breads, like brioche, challah, or french bread. My personal favorite is brioche though. And make sure to buy your loaf unsliced. That’s important.

Ninety percent of the time, soggy french toast can be solved by slicing your own bread, and slicing it thick. I’m talking 3/4 to 1 inch thick. This allows you to soak the bread, without it falling apart in the pan.

Lastly, get your bread as stale as possible. It sounds weird, but stale bread will take your french toast game to the next level. You can either leave out your sliced bread overnight, or dry it out the morning of in your oven on a low temperature. What we’re trying to do is dehydrate the bread, so that it can soak up even more custard and flavor when it is dipped.

Fun Fact: In France, french toast is called pain perdu, which translates to lost bread, or stale bread.

Caramelized Pears

My personal favorite part of this recipe are the pears. It’s amazing how just tossing some pears in a hot pan can bring out such a different flavor in the fruit!

When pears, or any fruit really, are cooked with a little fat, the Maillard reaction occurs which gives us that beautiful golden brown color. The water escapes the fruit in the form of steam, and certain chemicals are released, resulting in the high sugar content of fruit becoming caramelized, giving the pears a unique nutty taste.

Even if you don’t make the french toast, I would highly recommend making these pears and eating them with some ice cream, as a quick and easy dessert that will not disappoint.

My Notes and Tips

• Mixing the custard: Make sure to really use a little elbow grease to mix the custard well so that you don’t get any stray egg whites that aren’t incorporated. Also, keep whisking the eggs after adding the sugar to encourage it to dissolve into the eggs, otherwise the sugar will settle at the bottom, and your french toast batches will be unevenly sweetened.
• Add a little oil to the pan: Butter will give your french toast a great flavor, but it will quickly burn in the pan. Adding a little bit of oil will help to raise the smoke point of the butter, so you won’t end up with burnt bits in the pan.
• Start the pan on a higher heat: When you place your bread in the pan, keep the pan at a slightly higher heat to ensure you get that beautiful golden brown crust on the bottom. After flipping the bread, you can turn down the heat slightly to allow the bread to cook through.
• Toast the nuts: I know it can be tempting to not toast the nuts, I’m guilty of it too. But toasting the nuts will take the dish to the next level. The presence of heat causes the sugar and proteins in nuts to form different compounds, which allow the flavor to be enhanced.

Substitutions

• Bread: Like I mentioned earlier, softer bread will be better. My top picks are brioche, challah, or french bread. And again, if you can get an unsliced loaf, your french toast will turn out better. If you don’t have any of these softer breads, a harder bread (like a baguette) will also work, but just up the soaking time to compensate.
• Vanilla: In a recipe like french toast, the foundation of ingredients is simple and limited. So using the best quality of each ingredient really makes a big difference. If you have a vanilla bean, go ahead and use that. If not, vanilla paste is the next best thing. But if you’re in a pinch, vanilla extract will work just fine.
• Zest: This recipe isn’t meant to be super citrus-y, the flavor is meant to be pretty subtle. I included the orange zest to cut through the warm spiciness of the cinnamon, allspice, and cardamom, so any citrus zest will work (ie. lemon, grapefruit).
• Nuts: Personally, I think the flavor of the pecans really complements the chai flavor, but if you don’t have pecans on hand, any nut will do. Almonds or walnuts would be great substitutions.

Print Recipe

Chai Spiced French Toast with Caramelized Pears

Breakfast

By Sahar Kapasi – Serves: 6

French toast infused with chai spice, topped with golden caramelized pears, garnished with a toasted pecan topping.

Ingredients

• French Toast
• 1 loaf brioche, challah, or french bread, sliced 1-inch thick
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 cup half and half
• 5-6 tbsp loose leaf chai tea, or 10 tea bags of black tea
• 8 eggs
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 4 tsp vanilla paste
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• Zest from 1/2 an orange
• Pinch of salt
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• Caramelized Pears
• 3 D'Anjou pears, quartered and thinly sliced
• Cinnamon, to taste
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• Pecan Topping
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
• 2 tsp packed light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter

Instructions

French Toast

1

Lay out the slices of bread on a wire rack, and leave out uncovered overnight at room temperature. Alternatively, lay out the sliced bread on to a baking sheet, and place in an oven preheated to 250°F for 20 minutes, flipping the bread halfway through. The bread should be completely dried out, and should not turn golden brown.

2

Combine the milk and half and half into a medium saucepan, and place over low heat, stirring frequently. Take the mixture off heat once wisps of steam are visible from the surface, and the mixture just starts to simmer.

3

Add in the tea, either loose leaf or tea bags, and let steep in the mixture for about 5 minutes, or until the tea starts to stain the milk and it starts to take on a light golden brown color. Strain the mixture thoroughly, and let sit for about 2 minutes.

4

In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs until the yolks and whites are completely mixed. Whisk in the brown sugar, vanilla paste, cinnamon, allspice, cardamom, salt, and orange zest. Continue mixing until the sugar is dissolved in the eggs, about 2 minutes.

5

Slowly stream in about a third of the warm milk mixture into the eggs, whisking vigorously to temper the eggs. Add in the remaining milk, whisking constantly. Transfer the custard into a flat container.

6

Dip the dried out bread into the custard until it has been thoroughly soaked, but doesn't fall apart, about 20 seconds per side. Let excess custard drip off the bread before placing in a preheated pan greased with butter and olive oil. Cook over medium low heat for about 5 minutes, or until deep golden brown. Flip and cook for an additional 3 minutes, before taking it off heat. Repeat for remaining slices of bread, greasing the pan again between batches.

Caramelized Pears

7

In a separate pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add sliced pears in a single layer, sprinkling cinnamon on top.

8

Cook pears until soft and golden brown on both sides. Transfer to a plate in order to cool.

Pecan Topping

9

In a small pan, melt the butter over low to medium-low heat. Add chopped pecans and brown sugar, tossing to coat evenly. Cook for about 5-8 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Transfer to a plate once the pecans have darkened slightly in color, and are fragrant.

Assembly

10

Plate the french toast, and top with the pears. Sprinkle the pecan topping, and enjoy!

If you tried this recipe, leave me comment letting me know how you liked it! I would love to hear your thoughts! Enjoy!