Baked Coconut French Toast with Tropical Fruit Compote

Compote:

• 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh pineapple
• 1 cup chopped peeled mango
• 1 cup chopped peeled papaya
• 1 cup chopped peeled kiwifruit
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

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French toast:

• 16 (1-inch-thick) slices diagonally cut French bread baguette (about 10 ounces)
• Cooking spray
• 1 1/4 cups light coconut milk
• 1 1/4 cups egg substitute
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
  

To prepare compote, combine first 6 ingredients. Cover and chill for 8 hours or overnight.

To prepare the French toast, arrange bread in a single layer in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine light coconut milk, egg substitute, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon vanilla, stirring with a whisk, and pour evenly over bread. Turn the bread over to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Remove bread mixture from refrigerator, and uncover. Turn bread slices over, and sprinkle evenly with flaked coconut. Let stand at room temperature 15 minutes. Bake, uncovered, at 350º for 30 minutes or until coconut is golden. Serve warm with fruit compote.

Serves 8 (2 toast slices, 1/2 c. compote); 349 calories.

VERDICT: I messed around with this quite a bit: I halved the French bread and put it (plus a little extra) in an 8x8 pan, used real eggs instead of egg substitute, and substituted extra mango instead of disgusting slimy papaya. It turned out well in spite of all of that, and would be a good thing to make if you were having guests for brunch and didn't want a bunch of dishes lying around in the kitchen while you ate. Keep.