for the caramel sauce:
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
for the vanilla sauce:
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
for the french toast
1 jumbo egg
1 cup whole milk
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon butter
8 pieces texas toast
make caramel sauce:
melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. add brown sugar and mix well. add cream and bring to simmer. keep warm until needed.
make vanilla sauce:
whisk together the yolks and sugar in a small bowl. in a saucepan, bring the milk and vanilla beans to a low boil, then remove from heat. add a little of the heated milk to the egg mixture to temper it, then add the tempered egg mixture to the heated milk. simmer over medium heat for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until lightly thickened, but do not boil. transfer to an bowl and set aside in an ice bath.
in a shallow bowl, beat together egg, milk, and vanilla extract. place a large skillet over medium heat heat and add a tablespoon of butter. one at a time, dip the bread in the milk mixture and place in skillet. evenly brown both sides of the bread. transfer to a plate and spread a spoonful or two of vanilla sauce on one slice. top with second slice to create sandwiches. cut each sandwich in half diagonally. cover with a couple of spoonfuls of warm caramel sauce.