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Most of you know that I came from a big family ~ 7 kids! No, we are not Catholic. Yes, we had the same parents. (Those are usually the two questions people ask when they hear "7 kids?".) Most of you also know that my mom was sick for years. I am the second oldest, so I did a lot of the care-taking of the younger kids. I learned to cook when I was 10. I remember the first thing I cooked with my dad was Tacos. I loved cooking. Then, there was the baking. I made all the desserts and the b-day cakes for everyone's b-day, including mine. And I loved it! Another thing I remember is my grandmother making the biggest dessert spreads ever at the holidays. She made sure that every person there (we are talking, like, 30+ people) had their favorite dessert. I remember visiting her when I was 20. We cooked & baked all week. I never felt as close to her until then. We had this bond now - baking! I learned so much from her. I think it fueled my love of baking ~ and cooking! Now, at the Holidays, I make sure to prepare everyone's favorite dessert, no matter how many attend. It just wouldn't be the Holiday's if you didn't have your favorite pie, cake, cookie or candies!!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

French Toast Bake "Muffins" - Wednesday, Breakfast


Yesterday, I prepared the muffins and stored them overnight to let all of the flavors meld. You can store it up to a couple of days in the fridge before you bake. This is a wonderful recipe for Christmas morning breakfast, because it can be made ahead and stored, then baked while you are opening presents!!

Ingredients:

One baguette (not seeded)
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup of syrup
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup pecan (optional)
Syrup (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375*.
2. Lightly grease large six-portion muffin tin.
3. Cube baguette.
4. Mix the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, butter and syrup.
5. Add brown sugar. Mix well.
6. Combine bread and egg mixture.
7. Add pecans. Mix well.
8. Spoon mixture into muffin tin. (You can cook now, or cover & store in the refrigerator overnight.)
9. Sprinkle a little more brown sugar over the top of each "muffin" once you are ready to bake.
10. Cover. Bake for 40 minutes. (Remove foil for the last 10 minutes of baking.) Toothpick inserted should come out clean.
11. Serve with syrup, if you choose. It tastes great with or without it!

Variations: You can divide this mixture into a regular 12-portion muffin tin for smaller portions, or a 24-portion mini-muffin tin for potluck style breakfasts. Reduce time by 10 minutes for mini-muffin tin. This can also be baked in a 9 X 12 baking pan for 40 minutes.

I have also used every kind of bread for this recipe: Whole Wheat, Pugliese, sour dough, Challah, French Toast Bread & Texas Toast. Use your imagination!!

Credits: I "borrowed" this recipe from my SIL, Melanie. She brought this dish for our Christmas Brunch 3 1/2 years ago. Or was it 4 1/2?? Anyway, I've been making it every since, though I've never made it the same way twice. While here in Tahoe, I got creative with the Individual Portions idea and used the LARGE muffin tin. These portions were too big for the kids - though Dione and I had no problem finishing ours off! - so next time, I will use the 12-portion tin. Thanks, Mel!!
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2 comments:

  1. :) BethJuly 29, 2010 at 4:12 PM

    Forgot to mention that you can freeze the individual portions and microwave them when you're ready! :) beth

    ReplyDelete
  2. TamiJuly 29, 2010 at 5:35 PM

    French Toast muffins? Yummy!!

    ReplyDelete

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