French Breakfast Puffs

French Breakfast Puffs are not French and they are not puffs, but they are delicious, easy to prepare and very unusual (as in, how have I not encountered these before?).  They are muffins that are dipped in melted butter and rolled in a cinnamon-sugar mixture right out of the oven -- and it's that coating that makes them so special, almost like a doughnut, but without the bother of frying.

If you awaken just 45 minutes before the rest of your family, you can have these ready for them to enjoy -- they are that quick to make. But I'm told they're good the next day, too, according to my Henry Street Settlement colleagues who had the "leftovers" from my Thursday night baking adventure for breakfast Friday morning.

I found this recipe, probably dating from the 1950s, in a large collection of family recipes I purchased from an estate in Texas.

Begin by creaming the butter, sugar and egg. Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl and have the milk handy.  When the mixture is well combined, add the flour alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour.

Spoon the batter into greased muffin tins. Don't line the tins with paper, and don't worry about smoothing the tops, as this will happen naturally in the oven.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. These won't color a lot.

While the puffs are baking, melt the butter and mix the cinnamon and sugar together. As soon as the puffs are done, roll each in the butter to coat, then into the sugar mixture.

These are dense, almost like a cake doughnut.

Production notes: I followed the recipe exactly, but used butter instead of soft shortening, and 1 percent rather than whole milk, because that's what I had on hand. When alternately adding the flour and milk, start and end with the flour. As you can see in the photos, this did not make enough batter to fill all 12 muffin tins -- only 11. And perhaps I saturated the muffins too well in the melted butter, because it ran out after I completed the eighth muffin!  So if you want to make 12 muffins, fill the tins about half (not 2/3) full and melt about three extra tablespoons of butter for the final coating.

Breakfast Muffins

I was headed to the gym this morning (really!) when, on my way out the door, I spied this recipe card on the dining room table.  It called my name (in a way the gym never does), so I swapped my sweatshirt for an apron, and put these delicious breakfast muffins together in literally five minutes.

These are old-school style muffins -- simple, small and not overly sweet --  muffins that will not give you the kind of muffin tops you try to avoid by going to the gym. They are the opposite of the huge modern-day muffins sold in delis and bakeries, which are really just muffins disguised as cake (which is fine, but we should all acknowledge them for what they are).

Below are all the ingredients you need.

Mix everything together in a bowl...

and fill the muffin tin.

This is a thick, sticky batter.  Don't worry that the tops aren't smooth.  They will all even out in the oven.

Plated, awaiting the arrival of the DH, who did go to the gym this morning.

Inside the muffin.

This is one of those vintage recipe cards that's simply a list of ingredients, with no method given.  Below, is the way I mixed them.  If you don't have buttermilk, you can make your own by adding some vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk.  Let it stand for a few minutes before using.

I used butter instead of shortening, and baked them for 20 minutes.

Breakfast Muffins
Preheat oven to 425 F.  Prepare the muffin pan by lining or greasing and flouring.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl.  Pour wet ingredients in and mix well.  Place into lined muffin pan and bake.