French Toast with Banana in a mini casserole

What we know here as torrijas, in the Anglo-Saxon world are known as french toasts and in France as pain perdu. In all cases it's about making use of bread or day-old cakes, but in the case of french toast and pain perdu the cooking is done in a pan with a little butter and they are lighter than traditional torrijas fried in oil.

Today's recipe is a version of the popular french toasts but using croissants and baking them in mini cocottes. As you'll see, it's a very easy recipe to make that really is delicious accompanied by caramelized banana. A treat!

Set of two cappuccino cups with star stencil and Le Creuset mini-ceramic cocottes

Ingredients (for 6 people)

• 6 butter croissants cut into 2cm-thick slices
• 2 bananas sliced
• 8 large eggs
• 2 cups cooking cream
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon Madagascar vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Salt

For the caramelized banana:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 bananas cut into 1.5cm-thick slices
• Icing sugar for garnish

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Place the croissant slices in six mini cocottes, inserting a few banana slices between each layer.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients until fully combined. Pour the mixture over the slices in the mini cocottes, making sure they are completely covered by the mixture.
4. Bake for about 10–15 minutes. You'll know it's ready when it has puffed up slightly and turns a bit golden.
5. Meanwhile, mix the butter and sugar in a Le Creuset saucepan and stir over medium heat until it starts to brown. Add the bananas and stir for 5 minutes until caramelized.
6. After removing the mini-casseroles from the oven, put a few slices of banana in each mini-casserole and sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top before serving.