French Breakfast Puffs aren’t just for Breakfast
By kmorganmoss • Jun 27th, 2008 • Category: Bread, Desserts •
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This is one of the recipes that my mom had tucked away for years waiting to be tried. She has many and I had the opportunity to browse through her folder picking and choosing what interested me. This was the first recipe I grabbed. Something about them led me to believe they might resemble a donut. I am a sucker for a good donut and have toyed with the thought of going on a nationwide search for the best donuts.
What’s stopping me? Well, I would need some spare time, and no responisibilities. I would also need a personal trainer to accompany me in order to keep the waist line from expanding. Money would also help, in this search. Perhaps when I am 70 yrs. old, footloose and fancy free I will go on a donut jaunt. In the meantime, I will keep making these.
The French Breakfast Puffs smelled like a fresh made donut and tasted like a donut. We ate these hours after we had breakfast. I also made a double batch and they were gone in seconds. Actually, not that quick but pretty close. These are by far best eaten soon after coming out of the oven. Preferably with a good cup of coffee to go with them.
The recipe came from a cookbook that dated back to the 1800’s. I am sure that the French influence on Southern cooking had there part in these. They will be made often in my home and I have been thinking of ways to create new flavors. We were out of all-purpose flour so had to use cake flour and the puffs were that much better for it.
Hot out of the oven the tops are dipped in melted butter then re-dipped in a cinnamon sugar mixture. The were perfect plain but imagine a little preserves wouldn’t be bad. I need to take some time comparing them with a muffin as they were quite different. Clearly this was a puff of some sort without the suggestion of a muffin.
French Breakfast Puffs
Adapted, Virginia Cookery, Past and Present 1957
1/3 cup butter, melted
½ cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups cake flour
1 ½ teaspoons homemade baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons melted butter
Beat butter, ½ cup sugar and egg till creamy and well blended.
Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; add to butter mixture alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
Beat till blended after each addition.
Spoon into well greased miniature muffin pans, filling 2/3 full.
Bake at 350 degrees for 14 to 16 minutes.
Remove from pan immediately.
Combine the sugar and cinnamon and mix.
Dip the muffins into the 2 tablespoons of melted butter then into the sugar.
Yields 18 to 24 muffins
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kmorganmoss is the aspiring writer, photographer & passionate cook of ayankeeinasouthernkitchen.com; she is currently blogging and hopes to find her calling.
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I’ve never heard of those puffs before! Very delicious looking! I wouldn’t mind eating some of those for my breakfast…
Cheers,
Rosa
I love this recipe. I haven’t made them in a while, thanks for the reminder
These look amazing. I’ve always wanted to try making these. I’ve heard so many people talk about them as the perfect breakfast.
Wow these are cute! Don’t get me wrong but I never think of a doughnut being cute, delicious yes, but cute, not quite haha
Your doughnut jaunt idea sounds like fun 
Rosa-I know what you mean.
Michelle-Your welcome.
Cathy-These would be a winner with the kids.
Lore-I’m with you donuts aren’t usually cute, but these were. Good too.
Thanks for your nice comment on my blog. These puffs look decadent and so good!
cinnamon sugar is glorious. and they tasted like a donut with no frying involved? sign me up!
Kim I’d love to do across the country in search of the best doughnut! But I’m pretty easy - I’m up for looking for the best of anything ;))
These look perfectly marvelous: dip in butter and then cinnamon sugar - that right up my alley! Sounds like a really fun book these came out of.
Thanks for stopping by my place.
Those sound so interesting! Yum!
love these! would also LOVE it if you submitted again to TasteSpotting, and maybe that bottom picture of the eaten one
the cropping tool cropped in such a way that only one side shows….
I just made these this morning and they were terrific! Good call on the cake flour, it gave them an especially nice texture. I felt my inner Paula Deen coming out as I dunked each one into their little butter bath
Definitely a keeper!
Oh my goodness, they look fabulous. Sorry I’ve not been around so much recently Kim, I seem up to my ears in recipe testing etc.
“homemade baking powder” - Wow.
I am definitely putting these on the “to make soon” list.
Maybe if I had had those growing up I ould have never moved, eheheh!! Interesting the number of things labeled as French, could be Canandian though but that would put us back to Colonial times. I might get into that one day when we have coffee and cake, that was a little side note of my Masters thesis. Oh yeah, cake and history…my favorites!
To all Kim’s readers,
I am posting this late, so I am concerned no one will see it. HOWEVER, I find it quite necessary to comment on how good these were! She somehow neglected to mention that they were gone in a matter of minutes.
EVERYONE in the house liked them, even my picky son! He is tall enough now to grab things off the counters. Needless to say, his fingers were sticky and covered with cinnamon sugar until they disappeared.
Lindsey
Kim, they look fantastic! Photography is wonderful!
Holy moly!! These sound amazing!!!!
thank you for the recipe. i will make these post haste. super. i had lost my recipe.
cheers……