CROISSANT FRENCH TOAST WITH SOFT CARAMEL APPLES

Steps:

• Make the batter for the French toast by whisking together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon until evenly blended. Cover and refrigerate.
• Pay close attention while you make the caramel apples - put the sugar in a large dry skillet and place it over medium-low heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the sugar melts and begins to caramelize, about 5 minutes. Be careful; the sugar is really hot at this point. Still stirring, add the butter, which will foam a little. Once the sugar and butter become a caramel sauce, fold in the apple wedges. Now, because the apples are cooler than the sugar, the sugar may start to seize and harden, but don't freak out -- keep stirring, once the apples warm up the caramel will smooth out again. When the caramel sauce starts to form around the apples, pour in the maple syrup. Give it a stir and simmer for about 10 minutes until the apples are fork tender. Pull them off the heat and keep warm until you are ready to serve.
• For the French toast itself, warm the butter in a large non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. You probably will only be able to fit a couple of croissants in the pan at once, so prepare these in batches. Take a croissant half and quickly dredge it in the batter. The key word here is quickly; the croissants are very soft and will disintegrate if soaked in the batter. Lay the croissants in the pan, cut-side down, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Carefully flip them over with a spatula and brown the other side.
• The presentation is like a caramel apple sandwich - take the bottom half of the croissant and put it on a plate, spoon some of the caramel apples on top of that, and cover with the top 1/2 of the croissant. Dust with confectioners' sugar and cinnamon and serve.