Back to School 'Wild About Teachers' Brunch {Gourmet French Toast}

This year we bought the teachers 5K worth of supplies.  The budget cuts have been terrible, and they have to beg for the basics, like paper, and just hope the parents are generous.

Thank you to Starbucks for donating the drinks, and to Rosy's for a great deal on the flowers.

Melinda came up with the 'Wild About Teachers' theme.  She used a roll of wrapping paper among other things to pull off the look.  We thought it would have been cute if we all dressed in animal print tops.

This was my favorite dish:

Bananas Faster French Toast (Cinnamon Campbell)

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

4 large eggs

1 cup of heavy cream

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of shaved nutmeg

1 teaspoon of vanilla

8 croissants, halved

Butter for cooking

Bananas foster sauce:

8 tablespoons of butter, divided

1 cup of light brown sugar, packed

1 /2 cup of dark rum, room temperature (cold liquor does not ignite)

6 ripe bananas, cut into 1/2 inch chunks

 In a bowl or stand mixer, whisk together the eggs. Add cream, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla and whisk ingredients for about 30 seconds.

Melt butter (about 2 teaspoons) in a 12" non stick fry pan, around medium heat. Dip halved croissant in egg/cream mixture and put in frying pan. You can repeat with three more halved croissants. Four halved croissants fit in a 12" non stick frying pan. Cook until the underside is light brown and looking toasty. When the underside is toasty looking, flip croissants over and press down on them with a spatula so that they become flat. Turn heat down to medium low and let cook for about 2-3 minutes. You can leave the croissants in the pan on low heat to keep them warm while you prepare the bananas foster sauce.

In a 12 inch non stick frying pan, melt the 8 tablespoons of butter, divided on medium heat. Add brown sugar and stir until a paste forms. Add the bananas. Remove pan from heat and add the dark rum. Put pan back on burner. Using a gas burner, tip the pan to ignite the rum. If you don't have a gas burner, a lighter will do. You are burning the alcohol off, but leaving the taste of the rum. Let the flames keep burning, tilting the pan back and forth or shake the pan slightly, to reach all the alcohol. When the flames have subsided, your sauce is done.

 

My friends Courtney Dana, Trisha Combe & Melinda Bertrand did an amazing job putting the brunch together!  The teachers LOVED it!  So much better than having it catered.