The holidays are a time of giving, and what better gift to give than the gift of breakfast? French Toast Muffins with Brioche Topping is a quick and easy way to make breakfast for your friends and family. The recipe takes about 30 minutes total, which is perfect when you have limited time. These muffins can be made ahead of time, so they’re ready whenever you need them!
Ingredients:
– One loaf of brioche bread (or use your favorite French toast recipe) – Two eggs, beaten together with a couple tablespoons of whole milk or cream. Add in vanilla and cinnamon if desired! – Four tablespoons butter at room temperature. Make sure it’s unsalted so that the salt can be added to taste later on. You could also substitute this for almond oil if you like.- Salt- Sugar- Maple syrup or honey
Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit while cutting the brioche into cubes rather than slices as shown below. If using an already cooked french toast recipe, follow those directions until they are ready to put onto the muffin pan–be careful not to overcook the bread!
– Melt butter in an ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add cubed brioche and sprinkle with salt, sugar, and syrup or honey to taste if desired. Stir occasionally until french toast is slightly browned on all sides–be careful not to let it burn! – Pour beaten eggs into pan and cook for one minute before flipping them onto a plate lined with paper towels. The egg should be cooked through but still loose enough to flatten out later as shown below. – Using kitchen scissors cut the eggs into strips about three inches long by half an inch wide or so–you may need more than one strip depending on how big your muffins are.
*Arrange slices of cooked French Toast artfully around the perimeter of the muffin..
– Cook them in a preheated oven until they’re lightly browned–they’ll be more prone to burning than regular French Toast because you can’t flip them. – Just before removing from oven, top each with sliced fresh fruit or canned pineapples if desired and then add an egg yolk for that extra pop!*Place back in oven briefly for just a few seconds to toast yolks. Remove when cooked but not too brown (about 15 seconds). Serve while warm on plates lined with paper towels so you don’t get your table dirty. Bon appetit!
Additional Resources: *While cooking eggs, make sure to wear plastic gloves so as not to get egg on hands.*
*If you don’t have time to make Brioche, use a loaf of challah bread or brioche dough (refrigerated) instead. *Slice into ¾-inch slices and then cook in muffin pan with cooking spray just like the French Toast.*Remove from oven when browned but not too dark–about 20 minutes total cooking time for both sides should do it!
How to teach your kids to make muffins?
-Start by reading a recipe together and setting up your supplies then ask them to pour, whisk or stir the ingredients. Once they master that task, give it a go yourself while they watch you work.
-Provide plenty of opportunity for hands on experience with measuring cups and spoons (think liquid measuring cup games), whisks (soup stirring) forks (mashing potatoes) sharp knives (cutting vegetables). And yes don’t forget about scoops! They can practice scooping things like brown sugar in equal piles onto wax paper or muffin liners from an ice cream bucket.
-Ask questions like “What do we need?” This gets children thinking about measurements which are important when making recipes because often the amounts are less than what a typical person would use in one sitting.
-Get them to take responsibility for stirring the eggs, flour and milk together with a wooden spoon until they form “lumps”. Then let them pour it onto the muffin tins if you’re using paper liners or into an ice cream bucket if not. This part is messy but your kids will be delighted when they see their creations come out of the oven!
This recipe reminds me of my first ever cooking experience as I was given charge over pouring ingredients on top of pancakes that were cooking on the stovetop back home in Australia. It’s so rewarding giving children early opportunities to get involved in making food at home because they’ll carry these skills throughout