Mini Berry Clafoutis Muffins

What, you’ve never heard of clafoutis (pronounced kla-foo-TEE)? If only you grew up in France where many a household have their own family recipe for the delicious breakfast and/or dessert. Clafoutis is a custard-like baked French dessert or breakfast that is typically made by baking fresh fruit, (traditionally cherries,) and a sweet batter similar to a crepe or German pancake batter. It is so delicious that I could eat it every day. In fact, I made it twice yesterday and had to forgo eating lunch to make up for all the delicious clafoutis that I ate. As I am writing this I am wondering why I haven’t made any today?! I’ll be right back…

Really, you have to try this, it is so easy and delicious you’ll wonder why you have never had it before. (Curse me and my typical American upbringing of processed boxed foods!) I mean, all we ever had in my house for breakfast growing up was boxed cereal, and not even the sweet sugar kind either. I can’t believe that this passes as a breakfast. I guess it does contain fresh fruit, eggs and milk so it can’t be too bad right? My problem is that I eat the whole thing, I can’t stop at one bite or a few little muffins.

I tried several recipes and I really liked the one that my food blog idol Helen had on her blog. I made a few changes, and baked them in a mini muffin tin for an easy finger food and voilà, they are delicious. I know that the typical clafoutis recipe doesn’t contain cream cheese, but I just love cream cheese and berries so I had to throw some in there. Although I call these muffins, don’t be expecting what you and I would call a muffin, clafoutis has a custard like texture that is creamy and soft but it sets up enough when cool that you can remove them from the muffin tins and they hold their shape. This recipe can also be doubled and baked in several individual gratin dishes or one 8 or 9 inch round pan.

Mini Berry Clafoutis Muffins

1 cup diced fruit, I used a mixture of strawberries and raspberries

1 ½ oz. flour, about 1/3 cup plus 2 tsp.

½ oz cornstarch, about 2 Tbs.

1 oz. brown sugar, about 3 Tbs. packed

1 oz. granulated sugar, about 2 heaping Tbs.

¾ cup milk

1 egg

½ oz. butter melted (1 TBS.)

1 oz cream cheese softened

1 tsp. vanilla

Coconut for the top, I use unsweetened

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a mini muffin pan and divide the fruit between 20-21 of the spaces.

2. In a bowl, mix together the flour, cornstarch and sugars. Set aside.

3. In a blender, mix together the milk, egg, butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Blend for a few seconds until well mixed. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined and no lumps remain. Do not mix too long.

4. Pour the mixture over the berries and top with the shredded coconut. Bake for about 24 minutes or until puffed and set. The clafoutis will puff up in the oven but will sink back down once cooled.

5. Let them cool in the pan to firm up and make removal easier. They are delicious hot, at room temperature and even cold right out of the fridge. If you remove them too soon form the pans they will fall apart but will still taste delicious. (I always eat a few while they are still piping hot because they are so good and I am so impatient!)

del.icio.us Tags: clafoutis,berries,muffins

Apple Cinnamon Stuffed Waffles

My friend Jen asked me the other day if I ever make things from a box. Of course I do, I'm a mom and there are lots of days when the best that I can do is a box of mac and cheese. And my kids love it all the same, but I also love to change up some of the box mixes to make them better. Today I will show you my from the mix waffles that I have jazzed up a bit. These are made with a basic pancake mix following the directions for waffles. I do make a few changes like adding in vanilla and almond extract and a few tablespoons of brown sugar. Here I also stuffed them with cinnamon sugar apples and then topped them with some more of the apples. I love the sweet ooey gooey things, they remind me of when I was a kid. My mom used to make them for us for a snack and we would eat them right up barely waiting for them to cool down. And then the house would have the left over scent of cinnamon. I haven't made them for awhile and was surprised by the nostalgia that I felt when eating them today.

Cinnamon Sugar Apple Stuffed Waffles

Pancake mix made following waffle directions
4 apples, (I used pink lady apples)
brown sugar
cinnamon
powdered sugar
chopped walnuts, optional

1. Mix up the pancake mix following the waffle directions, set aside.

2. Peel and chop up the apples into small bite sized pieces. Add to a saute pan that has a lid and add some water to cover the bottom of the pan. Cover with the lid and cook over medium heat for a few minutes until softened. Check to make sure there is still water in the bottom, you don't want the apples to burn. meanwhile, heat up your waffle iron.

3. When the apples are softened add a few Tablespoons of brown sugar (adjust depending on the sweetness of your apples) and a few shakes of cinnamon. Stir to combine. Make sure that there is still a little water in the pan and cover withthe lid and simmer for one more minute.

4. Grease the waffle iron and add a little bit of the batter. Top each section with a spoonfull of the apples and then cover with a little more of the waffle batter. Cook according to your waffle iron's instructions (it may take a little longer than normal because of the apples).

5. Remove waffles and butter. Dust with a little powdered sugar and top with another spoonfull of apples. I also like to top mine with a few chopped walnuts. Delicious!

Coconut Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast

As promised, here is my version french toast.

After going out for Thai food awhile back I have been thinking of how to incorporate more coconut milk into my recipes. I will say that I love the stuff, too bad it's so unhealthy!! This is so good though that I am willing to endulge. The french toast is stuffed with a coconut cream cheese mixture and then dipped in a coconut milk and egg mixture. As I thought, the challah bread had the perfect texture and held up well to be filled and dipped in the eggy mixture. I will admitt that I am not a french toast fan, I usually make it for my family and then eat something else, but today I ate several pieces of the custardy bread because it was so darn delicious! If it can make me a believer, it must be good!

Coconut Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast

7-8 Pieces of challah bread (or other thick, dense bread)
4 oz softened cream cheese
2 Tbs. powdered sugar
1 Tbs. coconut milk ( I used Lite coconut milk)
1 egg
3/4 cup coconut milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. almond extract (optional)
2 Tbs. powdered sugar
4 Tbs. flour
Butter for pan
powdered sugar for dusting

1. Take the challah bread and make a pocket on the bottom using a sharp paring knife. It should be like pitta bread.

2. Mix together the cream cheese, the 2 tbs. powdered sugar and 1 Tbs. coconut milk. Transfer to a plastic baggie and snip of fthe corner. Fill the bread slices until they are full, using a butter knife to spread it around if necessary.

3. In a shallow dish, whisk the egg, the coconut milk, the extracts and the sugar together. When well mixed, slowly add the flour whisking to combine. The mixture should be the consistancy of a thinned out batter.

4. Heat a big skillet over medium heat. Meanwhile, dip the stuffed bread slices in the egg mixture letting them soak for about 30 seconds per side. Brush the heated skillet with butter and add the soaked bread slices. Cook until nicely browned on each side. If they are browning to quickly, turn down the heat a little.

5. Brush the finished french toast with butter and dust with powdered sugar. *I then drizzled mine with some of the cream cheese mixture that I thinned out with more milk (it was delicious!)*