French Breakfast Muffins

These were by far, the best muffins I have ever tasted. Seriously! I am so glad I tried them this morning. I already had every ingredient in my house...nothing out of the ordinary...staples really. You could probably go make them right now....and you WILL NOT BE SORRY!

Yes...found it on Pinterest..from this website.

First the ingredients:

1/3 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. sugar 1 egg (preferably room temperature)
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. milk

Topping (option: cut topping in half*)
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 tsp. cinnamon

While you are getting your supplies together, you might as well preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray the muffin tins with some non-stick spray. You know, I use muffin cups..the paper or tin kind...but I still spray them a little. I've had the muffins stick to the paper liners...that is not pretty at all!

I think this first step is what makes it so special...sifting all the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.

Then go ahead and add your wet ingredients to that. Melted butter..really I knew it was going to be delicious when I added that ingredient. OH and the nutmeg...very special too.

Mix the wet and dry ingredients just until combined. Still going to be a little lumpy.


Using a large ice cream scoop, I was able 8 medium-large muffins out of this batter; I think you could get 10-12 muffins by distributing the batter a little less generously.  (Personally I think bigger is better here!) Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until they just start to turn a bit golden at the edges.

They come out beautiful! But just wait until you jazz it up a little more.

For the topping, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Place melted butter in another small bowl.

Dip the warm muffins in melted butter (you can dip just the top, but it's even tastier to dip the whole muffin!),

then dip/roll the muffin in cinnamon sugar.

Is that not the prettiest muffin in the world!? WOW!  So just a few of my own opinions here...I used 1/4 cup of salted plus 3 tbsp. of unsalted butter for my topping. I just thought..the salt and sweet would go nice! ABSOLUTELY! I ended up rolling the tops and then some of the sides too...I'm a push over for yumminess!

You can ask my superheros what they thought. And I quote..."OH my goodness Mom..it tastes like Christmas morning..my mouth is so happy!" "I think it tastes like a Snickerdoodle Muffin!" Well, then I really got the Awesome Mom award when I let them dip and roll pieces of their nice warm muffins in the butter and sugar...why waste all that deliciousness. I certainly cannot be eating that! ;)

Mr. Incredible got to have one when he came home from school. He put his in the microwave for a few seconds...and it rendered him helpless! He was in love..(with me)..hugs and kisses followed. Great day!

Sticky Bun Breakfast Ring

Pinterest has changed my life. I promise I'm not addicted to it. I spend just a little bit of time on it almost every night (I only fell asleep once at my computer). It started with my desire to spruce up our breakfast time. I homeschool, so cereal just begins to look really boring after you actually watch your children eat it every single day. I don't think I ever had time to sit and eat breakfast with my children when they were in school...too busy getting everything ready to get everyone out on time.

So, I found Pinterest, it is a virtual bulletin board where you pin your favorite things or things you want to try. You are linked to websites and blogs about food and whatever and it is absolutely wonderful. I've made tons of things. Here is the recipe for this one.

Source: Found on Pinterest and linked to this blog.

Here is the easiest recipe ever:

• 2 small tubes refrigerator buttermilk biscuits OR 1 tube Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuits
• 3 Tbsp. butter melted
• 1/2 C. pancake syrup
• 1/3 C. packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 C. chopped pecans, opt.
• 1/4 C. chopped almonds, opt.

Spray a fluted pan with non-stick spray. Combine the melted butter and syrup in a small bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts (if desired).

 

Half of my children are not so nuts about nuts..so I just sprinkled nuts on half of the bottom of my pan.

Place about half of the syrup mixture in the bottom of the pan. Then sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture on top.

Lay the biscuits on the bottom of the pan, overlapping edges (closely together) to form a ring. (I just used the 2 small tubes of buttermilk biscuits...it was perfect!

 

Top with remaining syrup and sugar mixtures.

Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool for 1 minute in the pan, then invert onto a serving platter and enjoy!

Caution: I have 3 boys (ages 8 & 10)..who polished off the entire ring in one sitting...and NO I didn't even get one.

Pumpkin Waffles - Oh My!

So this was so much fun today. I want to remind you, that I rarely come up with anything original, I get my recipes from books or other websites. This one I got from The Girl Who Ate Everything - check out her site for the original recipe (not sure I'm allowed to copy from her website even if I give her the credit...so to be on the safe side you can find it there yourself) - she even includes homemade syrup (sadly I have no time for that..I have to homeschool 3 elementary superheroes). Her photography is amazing. I might add that my photography is done by me, with my cell phone. That should give you a chuckle!

I will give you photo instructions and let you know what I did wrong differently. Did I mention this was FUN!?

I love getting my ingredients all out and ready to go...the term we use is mise en place (french term for "set in place.") It helps a scattered Mom like me. You know in case the phone rings, the dog is in the garbage and the kids are fighting - that never happens here.

Ok - (Just noticed that my capital O only works with the caps lock on--great)..I love whenever I can use the whole egg. I despise having to throw away my yokes. So fortunately this recipe calls for 4 egg whites and 4 egg yolks. That made me smile!

Just wanted to put a plug in here for my girl (The Kitchen Aid)..while I was getting all of the dry ingredients together, she was working hard forming stiff peaks with the egg whites! Love her!

Now about the butter. I've said it before, I'm not a professional anything...I know when I bake my rule is to always use unsalted butter because most recipes call to add salt. This recipe only called for 1/4 teaspoon so I used one stick of salted butter and half of a stick of unsalted. (My little adaptation).

Confession - I've never ever used a waffle iron before. The batter, after folding in the egg whites ends up being very fluffy...almost mousse like. I wasn't quite sure how this was going to go with the iron.

I chose this picture because my first attempt at getting that waffle out of the iron was...how shall I say this...a massacre. Oh I used plenty of Pam, it wasn't sticking, I just couldn't figure how to get them out because they were totally hot and not extremely crunchy like when you pull items from the toaster. So we taste tested the ugly waffle and it was....

(gone in two seconds) seriously one of the best waffles I have ever tasted in my whole life. Perfect pumpkin flavor - not too much -  not too little. Four forks devoured our first "test" waffle and then my superheroes were like putty in my hands..waiting anxiously for their waffle to be placed with love on their plate,

Brendan was first, because he is most polite and patient! He knows what he is doing!!

After making a few, I got the hang of this waffle iron. I appreciate my friend who let me borrow this for today!

Kyle was next. Just want to put a plug in here for Autism Spectrum Disorder. You know my Kyle was diagnosed with this many years ago, he has come a long way, but he still has issues that we have learned to love him through. See below...he couldn't bring himself to touch the fork because I touched it, and my hands had Pam or butter on them..made the fork greasy. Don't you love it? No, I did not give him a  new fork..I said I love him through his challenges, but we don't cater to them. I love this boy!

Then there is my third superhero..Shane. He is the one who could have eaten 2 whole waffles I think. He just has that much energy. (He was served last because he had the largest "testing taste" of everyone else.) No problem there, he also finished before Kyle was done!

The recipe said it would make 8 Belgium waffles. I used 1 measured cup and poured in into the iron. The result was 5 and a half...but it is really a cute half! I did invite the owner of the iron and her son to join us today, but I'm thinking they chose to stay in their jammies instead. They know me...I'll be doing this again...

I am going to freeze the two waffles I have left over so Mr. Incredible can try one for tomorrow for breakfast (or tonight for a snack). Hey, I'm really glad you stopped by the kitchen this morning! Up next...Coffee Spice Cookies...I'm making them today.