PEACH FRENCH TOAST

This is a lovely recipe! A few weeks ago we were invited to accompany a family from our church on a 2 night get-away, to go rafting and stay in a Bed & Breakfast. We drove about 5 hours South, down to the Ozarks. It is beautiful down there! We took a small detour and stopped off at Lamberts for lunch, before we made our way down into Eminence. Lamberts is home of the "thrown rolls!" They were DEElicious too! Well worth the 1 hr wait to get in! Late in the afternoon we arrived at The Hawkins House Bed & Breakfast in Eminence, MO. Miss Patty is a FINE hostess and made our first ever stay in a bed & breakfast just delightful! It felt just like home! The morning we left she made this wonderful Peach French Toast for breakfast. We were all proclaiming how wonderful it was and talking about trying to finagle the recipe out of her. Next thing you know, out she walked from the kitchen with a smile and plopped the recipe down right in front of my plate! I was so happy and couldn't wait to get home and experiment on family and friends with a new recipe! I made it for my family when they were all gathered here last week for a Revival meeting with the Tharp Brothers. Then I made it for the Saturday morning soul winning crowd today. Both times it has gone over with a bang! Everyone loves it!
The only difference between Miss Patty's recipe and mine is, I have to make everything on a LARGE scale! Other than having to add a little extra cooking time, it still turns out MAHvelous Dahling! I know you'll enjoy this one!

PEACH FRENCH TOAST

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 Tblsp water

1 (29 oz) can sliced peaches
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 Tblsp vanilla
1 loaf french bread, sliced about 3/4" thick

Drain peaches. Heat brown sugar and butter on medium heat until melted. Add water and continue cooking until sauce foams up. Pour into 6 individual buttered baking dishes and cool 10 minutes.
Place peaches on cooled sauce and cover with slices of bread placed close together. In separate bowl, beat eggs, milk and vanilla until mixed. Pour over bread, cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, remove from fridge and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Loosely cover with foil the last 10 - 15 minutes if browning too fast. Remove from oven and loosen from edges of dish. Invert each dish onto serving plate to serve (so it is peach side up!)

PECAN FRENCH TOAST

Make caramel sauce from peach french toast. Pour into 6 buttered baking dishes and cool. Add chopped or whole pecans. Cover with slices of bread placed close together. Pour egg mixture over, cover and refrigerate overnight. Next morning bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

*TIP* I skipped the cooling time on the caramel sauce and it didn't affect the recipe at all. Actually placing the room temp peaches on the sauce probably helped cool it down faster. Also, since I frequently cook for a crowd, I doubled this recipe to fit a 1/4 sheet cake pan (lasagna pan). I think I fit 16 slices of french bread in the pan. You can get 16 slices out of one loaf if you slice it down the middle and slice each half into 8 equal portions. I also added 10 - 15 minutes of extra baking time to allow the custard laden bread to cook through all the way. The tricky part to making this in a large batch is inverting it when it is done baking. I use the 1/4 sheet cake pan because it doesn't have handles on the edges and I can fit my 1/4 sheet cookie pan over the top and then invert it right onto the cookie sheet. You still have to be very careful for two reasons: 1) it's VERY hot and 2) remember there is sauce in the bottom of the pan and when you invert it, if you are not flush against the bottom of your cookie sheet, the sauce may splash out. I did it over the sink. You may want to wrap a towel around it just to be sure you don't splash or burn yourself. If you do it quick though, you should be alright. I was, but still, please be very careful when you invert it.

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If you ever get a chance to travel down to the Ozarks, I encourage you to look up The Hawkins House Bed & Breakfast! Each bedroom has it's own private bath. Very clean and beautifully decorated. And a HEAVENLY wrap around porch with all sorts of swings and bistro sets and wicker furniture! We stayed in Annabelle's room - it has a partriotic theme - just lovely! http://hawkinshousebb.com/index.html
Tell her the preacher and his wife from Independence recommended her!