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I made this last night as a special thank you to my husband for power-washing the house. It was INCREDIBLE! Thanks for the fantastic recipe.
And there’s tons of left over chutney for another batch…or two 😉
I can’t even with this.
This is whole wheat French toast with PEAR CHUTNEY and MASCARPONE. Do you even see that white melty creamy stuff on the French toast that looks like butter only better? Look at it and study it because it’s how you’re going to make all your French toast dreams happen in real life. Just one little (large) shmear of mascarpone cheese is all it takes, bebe. Get down with your mascarponey self.
Thanks to that homemade buttery pear chutney with the cinnamon sticks which made my house smell amazingly cozy for daysss, this could probably be considered my first fall-inspired recipe of the year.
Hold the phone – I just dropped the f-a-l-l word on you right here in the smack-dab middle of August and you didn’t even flinch. I totally knew we had it going on.
Now is probably as good a time as any to let you know that I have a thing about fall food.
Cooking and eating in the fall is, well, not to be dramatic or anything, but it’s probably the best thing that has ever happened to me ever in my life EV-ER. No other food season can compete with the cinnamony-spiced flavors, the pumpkin, the toasty nuts, the apple everything, the slowly simmered soups, the hot crusty bread dipped in said soups, and the trading of iced coffees (which I am currently in love with but willing to give up) for creamy pumpkin spice lattes.
Ultimately fall eating is about the comforts of foods that will warm you, body and soul, right straight down to your toes after being outside on a perfectly crisp 60-degree fall day. And hopefully all this happens while you’re wearing your most comfy jeans and a hoodie because the best things in life always do. Right? Right.
The pear chutney that I made for this recipe was never really intended for French toast. It was actually more of an oh-my-gosh-all-the-pears-are-getting-mushy panicked attempt to find a way to use them up quickly after buying this massive tray thing of deliciously perfect pears from Costco that I’m 99% sure was meant for a family of giants. It was one of those times that I wished Costco wasn’t making me be so Big America Greedy (like really? 20-something pears?) but then in the end it actually forced this pear chutney upon me, and for that reason I can forgive Costco for its Big America ways.
I’ve since made this chutney three times and now I just keep it on hand for French toast emergencies and for my daily crackers/cheese/chutney lunching. But actually, I’m totally serious. It’s my new lunch staple.
We made this French toast for work-from-home breakfast like 8 times last week (uhh, except…whatever) and it was so awesomely cozy. The whole wheat bread is nice and sturdy before it takes a good swim in the batter and hits the frying pan, making for a French toast is lightly crispy, brown, and textured on the outside and thick and spongey on the inside.
The pear chutney is su-pear-sweet with the tiniest hint of warm savory thanks to the caramelized onions up in the mix. No I know, that sounds weird, but it’s a chutney staple and makes the flavor so rich, deep, and wonderful on so many levels. Trust me, friends. This magic sauce serves as a naturally sweet, chunky, cozy, homemade fruit syrup of sorts on top of those golden brown thick slices of French toast.
And the mascarpone? I am not overreacting at all right now because this is a FRENCH TOAST GAME-CHANGER. Just a few dabbles of that stuff over the top of your steaming hot tower of French toast means melty little rivers of something like cream cheese meets butter. Only better. Pinky promise.
Sprinkle the whole shebang with a few chopped pecans and I’m French toast dying.
Whole Wheat French Toast with Pear Chutney
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This French Toast is topped with Pear Chutney and Mascarpone for the most decadent and cozy fall-inspired breakfast. YUM!
Ingredients
For the pear chutney:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 yellow onion (about 1/2 cup finely chopped)
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 1/3 cup bourbon
- 1/2 cup white wine vinegar (or other sweet vinegar)
- 4 pears (about 4–5 cups finely chopped)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- a squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
- pinch of salt
For the French toast:
- 6 slices bakery-style wheat bread (I like Archer Farm’s Harvest Grain bread from Target)
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
- chopped pecan pieces for topping
Instructions
- The night before (if you can! if not, that’s okay, too), place the butter and onion in a small saucepan and saute for several minutes until soft. Add all the other chutney ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for 30-45 minutes, until the mixture is soft, sweet, and thickened into a texture like applesauce. If making ahead, store in the fridge.
- Heat a nonstick pan or griddle over medium high heat. Cut the slices of bread in half so you have a total of 12 bread pieces. Whisk the egg yolks, half and half, milk, vanilla, and flour until smooth. Dip the bread in the egg mixture and transfer to the hot skillet. Fry for a few minutes on each side until golden brown (I don’t recommend using butter – try to use a skillet or griddle that has a very smooth nonstick surface that makes flipping really easy). When the pieces are golden brown, arrange on four plates.
- If your chutney was made the night before, heat it back up again. Shmear the French toast with a little mascarpone, top with chutney, and sprinkle with pecans. For extra fun, scoop little spoonfuls of mascarpone over the French toast – the heat of the chutney will melt the mascarpone into pretty little pools of creamy and you will be in heaven.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: whole wheat french toast, pear chutney, french toast recipe
I am SO with you that fall cooking and eating is the best. In fact, I have some pumpkin goodness in the oven RIGHT NOW. BRING IT ON.
And this french toast? I am dead. I have yet to try mascarpone (judge me) but this is making debate running to the store this instant. Pinned!
Bought pumpkin yesterday and cracked open my first can today! YES YES YES.
Lindsay,
I’ve got a few things to say…
1) Your parsley got in my bag. So, if you see a random bag of toilet paper and parsley arrive on your doorstep, it’s from me.
2) This may be your best descriptive piece, so far. On a 4 point “6 traits” rubric for word choice, I’d give it a four, for sure. (That makes your “teacher heart” smile just a little bit, doesn’t it?)
3) Your chutney calls for bourbon. Sheer genius.
So, I can’t get this recipe off my mind and I’ve got a few questions.
You pull out the bay leaves and cinnamon sticks after serving, right? Or, for added flavor, do you leave them in and scoop around them?
Do you peel the pears?
Why don’t you recommend frying them in butter?! Are you being healthy or is there a cooking process related reason?
No, they always turn out weird for me when I fry them in butter. My skillet is really perfectly nonstick, so I don’t need the butter for that – and they just get too hot (bad controls on the old gas stove) and fry way too fast with a weird looking outside. Nothing healthy going on here, girl. 🙂 And as for the pears, I didn’t peel them. And as for the bay leaves and cinnamon sticks, I left them in the little container of leftovers in the fridge for extra super flavor, scooped around them, and just discarded them at the end when all of it was gone. So great to see you yesterday BTW! I’ve used almost all of my spices already. 😀
Keep the parsley, I think I have some. TP on the other hand…
Thank goodness for fall eating, otherwise I’d be ridiculously sad about summer ending. At least we have fall food to look forward to!! I would trade in a couple days of summer for this french toast…
You just made my french toast dreams come true! I loooove the sound of the caramelized onions in the chutney and pears and mascarpone are two of my favorite things in food world. I’m totally with you on fall- it’s my cooking dream time. Although I love being in South Africa, I’m definitely going to miss Portland Fall this year!
Fall was one of the hardest times for me to miss in the Philippines. It’s just the best, most homey-cozy time of year. Good luck – hope you can replicate some good fall feelings in SA!
I’m so with you on fall food, there is just something about it that makes you feel so warm and comforted inside 🙂 the smells of cinnamon, pumpkin, nutmeg and other spices is just so soothing… this recipes looks delicious the pear chutney itself looks yummy enough to eat itself! … but I do love my carbs so can’t leave out the bread part! 😉
My gosh, Lindsay, this toast feels like it is talking to me and telling me to eat it right out from the screen. Love the photos.
Not the f-word! Just kidding. BRING ON ALL THE CINNAMON!
I just bought some expensive and delicious Indonesian cinnamon because September’s a coming! Had to.
Amazing, I’ll have try the marscarpone on French toast, which is not pronounced the way you’d think btw. My girlfriend always corrects me on that. I love fall foods, especially toasted pecans. Now I’m excited for cranberry and brandy chutney my family always has for thanksgiving. Pinned for my next cozy weekend morning.
I don’t know if I’ve ever really said it outloud – maybe I should do my research so I know how to pronounce it in person?! eek
This is the most unique French toast I’ve ever seen!! I love the pear chutney – so yummy 🙂
If I could live where it alternated between fall and winter every two-three months or so, I’d be so perfectly happy. I can’t wait to try this! It looks amazing.
I love you. I feel like we could totally be besties. Your voice speaks to me.
Lol. Now I sound creepy but I swears it’s just the high off the fact that Starbucks is bringing back pumpkin spice lattes next week. Weeeeeee *happy dance*
AND I MADE A HOMEMADE VERSION OF THE PSL THIS MORNING. To be posted soon! We really are besties.
LOVE this! I adore pears and mascarpone together, I’m so making this this weekend 🙂
So interesting that you added onions to the chutney but … I trust you!
Your photos are stunning, as always 🙂
I was weird about it at first, but it just gives the whole thing a depth so it’s not like sugar punch sweet – it’s just rich and smooth, not oniony. 🙂
This looks so good. I love pears and I’m so excited for them to be at peak season!! Like you, I love fall food. It’s so warm and comforting. However, as you know because you live in the Midwest, we haven’t had a real summer. I’m not ready for what comes after fall because I’m not over last winter. Can’t we just stretch out summer for another month? Please.
SO with you! And yes. Except I might break out a few more fall foods but if the weather could just get a little summery for these last few weeks PLEASE….
I have such a mixed relationship with the F-word (fall, obviously). While I adore squash and sweaters and chili and football, fall is a gigantic omen of the impending doom that is winter. Let me go make some of this delicious pear chutney and ponder the merits of pretending that the f-word is not rapidly approaching 🙂
I hear you. Winter doom – I’m in total denial.
Absolutely beautiful photos! I kind of wish it could stay summer forever, but I’ll cheers to fall food and fall flavors any day. That pear chutney looks especially amazing!
Thank you Ali! Cheers right back at you. 🙂
The pear chutney looks luscious.
Ah pears! Had a neighbor in Oregon who had pears he hated…. we took them and let them age until ready…. they were the most delicious dessert pears ever… fresh butter soft pears sliced on crisp whole wheat waffles with fresh berries…. Heaven! We told him thanks and raved about them… next year I think he figured it out and we didn’t get offered them again 🙂 …I just discovered Pamela’s gluten free baking mix so now we can enjoy healthy waffles and maybe your pear chutney as well!
Yum! I was just thinking about buying a waffle maker…
This looks just simply amazing and i’m excited to try this. I have one question, how long does the chutney stay good for? I’m a virgin when it comes to Chutney’s, can you freeze?
Thanks!
I don’t know about freezing, but I kept mine for quite a while (like 4-5 days) in the fridge and it was fine.
If this French toast means fall is coming, then bring it on!! Pear chutney looks amazing….I want to eat it on everything!
Um. I love you dearly, Lindsay… Your recipes are TO DIE FOR…
However, it IS August 20th and I refuse to even think about fall. This will be put away for when I’m not still sitting in my yard, taking in the last rays of summer. I haven’t even begun to wear pants yet!!!
That said, this looks ridiculously yummy. Will be making it FOR SURE!
I am with you. Er, sort of. The only part of me that’s ready for fall is the food part – does that count? 🙂
Absolutely, that counts! And, don’t tell anyone but I am done with the summer cooking…
Damn.
Just damn.
WOW! This looks and sounds AMAZING!!!
That looks so luscious and delicious. I practically screams “after you eat me go outside and inhale the crisp fall air”.
I’m ready for sweaters.
Bring on fall!!!
This looks great!
I am so depressed about fall coming. We really didn’t get much of a summer up here and after a horrendous winter, I’m really dreading it.
But fall food and fall boots are the only things that make it even a little bit ok.
You are speaking my language, girl.