Bananas Foster French Toast

I recently had new neighbors from Chile and Argentina move in. They're in New Orleans for a summer abroad to practice English and to work at Cafe du Monde. I told them that I had brunch at Surrey's earlier and had this delicious bananas foster French toast. To my surprise, they told me that they have never had either brunch or French toast before. How one lives life without ever having brunch simply baffles me, but I obviously arranged for us to have a homemade brunch with lots of French toast! 

Because I was making a large batch, I baked the soaked bread in the oven, but I made the recipe again a few nights later for a midnight snack and simply pan fried it all in the skillet. Both came out delicious, but I must give most of the credit to the buttery rummy bananas foster sauce. This is by no means a healthy recipe, just a delicious indulgence. Please don't judge the amount of butter or sugar used in the recreation of my NOLA inspired recipe. 

Served best with a cafe au lait! 

Bananas Foster French Toast (serves 4)

1/2 loaf day old French bread (about 6-8 thick slices) 

2 cups milk

4 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

Bananas Foster Sauce: 

2-3 bananas, sliced

1 stick butter

1/3 cup rum

1/4 cup water

1/4 sugar

1. Mix together milk, eggs, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. 

2. IF BAKING

 - Preheat oven to 325F

 - Line bread on oiled pan/skillet and pour milk mixture over. The bread should soak it all up. 

 - Bake for 25-35 minutes or until edges are crisp

2. IF PAN FRYING

 - Lightly oil pan on medium heat

 - Dip bread into milk mixture and fry both sides in pan until golden brown 

3. In the meantime, prepare bananas foster sauce. 

 - Melt together butter, rum, and sugar

 - Once bubbling, add bananas. Feel free to set on fire. (practice safety!) 

 - Remove from heat after 2 minutes, do not over cook bananas. 

4. Pour sauce over French toast