Pain perdu with caramelised pears

This is my version of pain perdu, which is french for "eggy bread" and it´s sooooo good. Serve with a dollop of ice cream and you are in seventh heaven. Make sure you get firm pears or they will just break down when you cook them in the caramel. You can also use some other fruits like peaches, apples or bananas.
4 ripe and firm pears
80g caster sugar
40g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
3 large eggs, beaten
4 tbsp milk
4 tbsp double cream
1/2 a vanilla pod

4 thick slices of white bread
Handful of mint leaves, roughly chopped

1. Halve the pears and remove the core, halve again into quarters and then halve again into little pieces. Heat 3 tablespoons of the sugar in a heavy-based ovenproof pan, when it begins to caramelize place the pears, cut-side down in the caramel. Add another tablespoon of sugar on top and cook for a few minutes. As the sugar starts to disappear add 15 grams of butter and let it cook down in the sauce. When the sauce is thick and syrupy, take off the heat and set to one side

2. Melt the remaining butter in a wide pan until it begins to foam. Whisk the eggs, milk, cream and remaining sugar together. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod into the egg mixture with the finely chopped mint and mix together. Dip the bread into the egg mixture and fry in the butter for a minute or two on each side until golden brown. Place each slice on a serving plate.

3. To serve, lift the pears onto the pain perdu. Dust with icing sugar and serve with a dollop of crème fraiche or mascarpone.

And if you are extra greedy person.....like me, you can make a sandwich version of the pain perdu