French (or 7th grade Home Ec.) Breakfast Puffs
"French Breakfast Puffs" remind us that it's not all about dinner, and food and wine pairings. Your day, after all, starts with breakfast -- add a mimosa, if it's the weekend -- and these muffins will start you off very very happily.
The recipe comes from my seventh-grade Home Economics class, courtesty of Mrs. Pemberton, a sweet little old lady who taught "home ec." back in the days when, well -- sweet little old ladies still taught home ec. We begin with 1/3 cup butter, at room temperature, creamed together with 1/2 cup sugar. Then add 1 egg and blend.
Then add the 1 and 1/2 cups flour, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt that you have mixed in a separate bowl. Once that is blended into the butter mixture, finish off the batter by adding 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 cup of milk. Beat batter well. It will be stiff enough to hold the wooden spoon upright.
Then fill greased muffin tins, or paper muffin cups, about 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes in a preheated 350 F oven.
As soon as they are done, take them out of the pan and roll the tops first in a shallow bowl of 1/4 cup melted butter, and then in a second shallow bowl holding a mix of 1/4 sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
This recipe is supposed to make 12-18 muffins; I must be doing something wrong because I find the batter is so rich it only makes nine. And by the way, if you find you cannot fill all your muffin tins with batter, fill each empty section with a quarter inch or so of water before putting the pan in the oven. I recall reading somewhere that you should do this, both to prevent the pan from warping and to make up for the humidity lost when a baked-goods recipe does not produce the volume you expected. Is it really necessary? Who knows? I do it. And in what sense are these French Breakfast Puffs really French? Who knows? It makes them sound as good as they taste.
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10 Comments:
Do these turn out more like popovers or muffins? Sounds easy enough that I might give them a try some weekend but it'd be nice to know what I'll be looking at. ;~)
czken at 3:39PM on 04/18/09
check out 'French Breakfast Puffs' PioneerWomanCooks.com
kind of sounds like yours
goodcooker at 5:33PM on 04/18/09
I originally got this recipe from someone with the last name "French" when I was a teenager - I was looking for something easy to make for a bake sale. I lost the recipe years ago so I thought I was out of luck. Never thought to seach online for it since I always assumed they were named "French puffs" after her instead of the country. :) Thanks!
CooksForOne at 6:56PM on 04/18/09
@mrslucas - You and I must have had the same Home Ec teacher. I remember the tip about adding water to the empty wells in the muffin tin. I never understood why, but still do it today. This recipe also appears in my 1960's Betty Crocker Cookbook.
Suzzanne at 9:57PM on 04/18/09
I just made a batch of these after reading the recipe. I got 12 muffins, I did add 1 tsp vanilla rather than 1/2 tsp. and instead of rolliong them through butter and cinnamon sugar, i topped them with a little raw sugar before i put them in the oven. My neighbor, who came over to play guinea pig says they are wonderful. the texture seems beautifully light and very delicate. I'm definately going to make these again, I think SO will love them, and what a great sunday morning they will make. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
huneybumper at 9:57PM on 04/18/09
wow- I learned this recipe in my home ec. class in 8th grade! It know no bounds. Ps I was in 7th grade 10 years ago!
mhurst826 at 1:01AM on 04/19/09
When I was a little girl, my older sister went through this phase where French Breakfast Puffs were seriously about her favorite thing in this world. I remember my mom making them practically every weekend for months at a time. Lucky for me, I loved them too. Love how something so simple is sooooo good. Thanks for bringing up a good memory for me....now I will have to get into my own kitchen and whip some up!
kimberlymac at 9:18AM on 04/19/09
I never had home ec. I went to a school that did not even offer it. I think the most occupational class we had was accounting. I wonder why?
JerzeeTomato at 10:52AM on 04/19/09
These sound wonderful, and you were lucky to have a "sweet old lady" home ec teacher that dished up great recipes like this. Though I hate to give clues about my age, home ec was a required subject for girls for all three years I went to junior high school - one year of cooking, one of sewing and one of cleaning/housekeeping. An old friend and reminiscing about how much we hated these horrible classes and the mean teachers. Cooking class started out with making cheese and crackers and progressed to hamburgers incinerated in a ton of grease. Boys, of course, didn't have to take these subjects.
MMinNYC at 2:24PM on 04/19/09
JerzeeTomato - We must have attended the same school? or at least the same kind of school? I went to a parochial high school in Las Vegas. I envied my friends in public school because they could take classes like "home ec" and got to cook cool stuff.
lindy123 at 5:00PM on 04/22/09