Spiced Blueberry French Toast Muffins

October 1, 2016 Laura

We are having a muffin cup moment here at SPC. It started three years ago when we were creating our book How to Feed a Family. Ceri, in one of her more genius moments, baked toast and eggs in a muffin pan making breakfast cups. Then she started portioning her meatloaf mixture into muffin tins. Suddenly meals were easy to store in the freezer and could be used in convenient portion sizes. I couldn’t help but copy her efforts so I hunted down a mini loaf pan and created my Turkey Meatloaf with Apple and Sage recipe. Oh, and did you see our baked oatmeal cups made in a muffin tin? We’re loving the make ahead convenience and single serving beauty of the muffin. I guess you could say we’re cramming everything we can think of into a tin.

Well, not just anything. It has to make sense. For instance, if it’s going to create an extra step in the method, I’m not doing it. In other words, I’m not going to make a casserole and then portion it into tins. It’s fine in the casserole dish, right? You don’t mind just scooping from a casserole dish, don’t you? But French Toast. Now the makes good sense. Sure you can store single slices of French toast easily but how much time does it take you to stand at the stove cooking 12 pieces of French toast (a week’s worth of breakfasts) in batches of 3? More time then you’ve got, right? Well, this recipe for French toast muffins gives you 12 delicious bundles of fluffy, custard goodness in the time it takes you to prep this dish, oh what’s that, about 10 minutes?!

Photo by Maya Visnyei

These are by far our new favourite breakfast. Now, I know I’ve said this before, but this time I really mean it (at least until I introduce you to the fruit pancake muffin!) Not only does Scarlett pack two of these in her belly a morning but, when I was testing them, I had a few of the neighbourhood kids request them at school drop-off. Yup, it’s true. I test recipes on Scarlett’s friends. And never underestimate the power of a French toast muffin after school. They’re pretty popular that time of day too. Just ask the kids at pick-up.

Spiced Blueberry French Toast Muffins

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 12

Ingredients

8 eggs
3/4 cup (185 ml) milk
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
½ tsp (2 ml) lemon juice
1/4 tsp (1 ml) ground allspice
¼ tsp (1 ml) lemon zest
1/4 tsp (1 ml) salt
8 thick slices of wholegrain bread, cut into cubes
1/4 cup (60 ml) blueberries

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a muffin tin.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, extract, juice, allspice, zest and salt. Add the bread cubes and stir, making sure all cubes are covered in eggy mixture; soak for 5 minutes. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon the bread mixture into muffin cups.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until egg is cooked and muffins are golden brown. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container up to one week.

For reheating: pop muffin(s) into toaster oven with rack on lowest level and allow to heat for 4 to 6 minutes. Serve with a drizzle of maple syrup or honey. Eat on the go with a smear of jam.

Sweet Potato Chronicles