Extreme Mother's Day Brunch Recipe: Francois Payard's Chocolate Brioche Pain Perdu
You”re not really gonna make plain old French toast for Mother”s Day are you? If you”re looking to kick that up a few notches, chef Francois Payard offers this Parisian take on Mother”s Day brunch, with an at-home recipe for his world-famous Chocolate Brioche Pain Perdu.
A counterpoint to American-style French Toast, Payard”s version is more of a sandwich with a chocolate chip filling, topped with sauteed bananas and whipped cream. OK wait, maybe it is pretty American after all. I mean, whipped cream and chocolate chips for breakfast? Doesn”t get any Yankier than that.
Best yet, this decade break-sert can be made ahead of time by freezing the sandwiches overnight (once assembled and soaked thoroughly), and then baked for 10 minutes before serving.
Chocolate Brioche Pain Perdu
Makes 8
Pain Perdu Custard:
4 cups milk
4 each eggs
4 each yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 each vanilla bean or 3 Tbs. extract
Whisk the eggs, cocoa, and yolks by hand in a bowl and add sugar, milk (add the milk ½ at a time to avoid lumps) and the vanilla bean.
Sautéed Bananas
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon sugar
4 bananas, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons Meyers Rum
Melt the butter in a sauté pan. Add the bananas and sauté while adding the sugar. Pour in the rum and flambé.
Assembly:
Brioche slices – cut each loaf into 8 pieces – 1/2” thick slices
1 cup chocolate chips
2 Tbs. honey
4 Tbs. butter
Preheat oven to 350F. Dip the two brioche slices for each dessert.
Soak each slice in the custard for 1 minute and use the two pieces to make a sandwich and sprinkle about 1 Tbs. chocolate chips in between two of the slices. Press the two slices together.
Freeze solid.
Heat the butter in a sauté pan. When the butter has almost reached the brown butter stage, add the honey.
Take the frozen brioche slices and cook each side, making sure that they take a good color. Remove from the pan and place on a sheet tray with parchment paper and repeat as necessary, cleaning the pan each time.
When all pieces are cooked, place in the preheated oven and bake for approx. 10 minutes, or until cooked all the way through. Set aside the brioche and re warm in the oven before serving.
Place the re-warmed brioche on a plate. Sautee the bananas and place over brioche. Dust the dessert with powdered sugar.
