French Breakfast Puffs

These muffins have been a family favorite ever since I started making them for Cafe Zog in Rhode Island almost twenty years ago! With their light texture and lovely cinnamon-sugar topping, they are also one of my Top Ten Favorites from O Taste & See Some More!

These muffins turn out so well that when I baked them for Cafe Zog, I actually developed a lot of variations to them such as Lemon Muffins, Dutch Apple Muffins, Blueberry Muffins, etc. My recipe  makes a really large batch, about 9 jumbo muffins like the one pictured above or 20 regular-sized muffins. Of course you might not be baking for a cafe, but even for a family or several guests I find we go through them quickly so I always make a full recipe. If I have some leftover, I freeze them for another day.

I begin by weighing out 1 C. of butter and cutting the hunk into smaller pieces. If you live in the Land of Plenty (America), you can just use two sticks. (Yes, you can use margarine…but I always use butter.)

I cream the butter together with 1 1/2 C. sugar until it’s well mixed. This morning I used my Kitchen Aid mixer, but you can use a hand mixer, assuming your butter is soft. I left my butter on the counter overnight so it would be nice and soft.

When I forget to take it out the night before, or just plain ol’ decide to make muffins after I get up, I’ll use my food processor since it has such a powerful motor and blade.

Once the mixture is nice and creamy, I add three eggs…

…and cream the mixture together.

Next I add the dry ingredients…the recipe in O Taste & See Some More! says to add them alternately with the milk…but I know the author and she said she only does that if she’s mixing the batter by hand. Otherwise, it’s quicker and easier to add them all at once. First some flour….

A reminder…since I’m using European flour, and I know African flour is the same, I’m adding an extra 1/4 C. for every two cups of flour. So instead of 4 1/2 C. of flour, which the recipe calls for, I’m using a full 5 C.! Seems like a lot but the thicker batter makes for a better rise in the muffin tops.

Now I add some baking powder…

…a little salt and some nutmeg…

I used to use ground or powdered nutmeg…but then I bought some “real” nutmeg and now I use my handy-dandy zester to grate my own. It’s nice and fresh…gives a nice flavor.

So Anna (last month’s winner) now has another use for her zester!

Lastly, I add the milk…

Now I combine everything together quickly…you don’t want to mix it too long or else the muffins texture will be somewhat tough from the gluten in the flour…so just mix until combined. A few lumps are OK.

The batter will be very thick. Don’t thin it out! I’ve found the tops of these muffins really rise nicely, rather than spreading out over the edges of the pans.

I use two large spoons to transfer the batter into the paper-lined, or greased, muffin tins.

Most muffin recipes say to fill the muffin tin about 2/3 of the way…I always fill mine right to the top. Especially with these muffins, you need to be able to dip the muffins after they’re baked so you need a good top on them.

Now I bake them in a 350° F (180° C) oven for 45 minutes. If you’re baking regular-sized muffins, you’ll need about 25 minutes to get them nice and golden brown, like this:

I place them on a cooling rack until they’re cool enough to hold…then dip the tops in melted butter… (Don’t even be thinking about the calories! Just think about how delicious they are gonna be!)

…swirl the top around in the butter…then hold it up to let some drip off…

before swirling it around in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar…

And there you go! A light and fluffy muffin with a crunchy, cinnamon top!

My good husband prefers them without the cinnamon topping. (Can you even believer it? Some things I’ll never understand.) So I leave a few plain for him…

But the rest are all for me…and you if you stop by today! We’ll have one with a cup of coffee, OK?

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