By now, many of you already know about my obsession with cinnamon. It should come as no surprise to you then that my all time favorite muffin is the French Puff Muffin. This muffin is like no other, it reminds me of a yummy cinnamon sugar doughnut. I love to serve these muffins right out of the oven. Once they are cool enough to handle dip tops in melted dairy free margarine and roll in a cinnamon sugar mixture. In fact, rolling the tops in sugar is the job I hand over to my kids. They love it and feel like they are a part of the fun.
I remember the first time I served these delectable little muffins to my food allergic son John. I think even he was shocked at how amazing they were. But these have become one of his favorite muffins too. In fact, when I was working on the book and John happened to see a photo of them, he immediately asked, “Can we please make those again soon?” I can never say no.
Serve these to guests or your neighborhood kids. I promise they’ll never guess they’re allergen free.
DAIRY, EGG AND NUT FREE FRENCH PUFF MUFFINS
Yield: 12 muffins
Muffins
2/3 cup dairy-free margarine
1 tablespoon water
1 cup granulated sugar
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup soy or rice milk
Topping
1/2 cup melted dairy-free margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350ºF, and spray a 12-cup muffin pan with dairy-free baking spray.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the margarine, water, and sugar. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt with a wire whisk. Add the flour mixture and soy milk by thirds, alternating between each addition. Using a cookie scooper, put batter into prepared muffin pans. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.
Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, and place melted margarine in a small bowl. Remove muffins from pan and dip each in margarine, and then roll muffin tops in cinnamon–sugar mixture.
*These are best eaten the day they’re made.
These look yummy…
These sound good and will have to try them as I love cinnamon sugar donuts!
We only deal with a nut allergy, so I’m guessing I could use this exact recipe with regular milk/butter products, right? Also, do you just dip the muffin tops in margarine or the whole thing?
Thanks for the recipe – can’t wait to try them out.
Let me know how it works for you!
I was using my son’s allergies as an excuse NOT to bake but with pictures like the one above I am going to be baking every week! My goodness do those look good.
Thanks you guys! Hope you enjoy them! Sandra…just dip the tops, although if you REALLY love cinnamon sugar…why not dip the whole muffin??
That looks so yummy! I am a cinnamon addict myself!
These look terrific!
These were a hit at my house – especially the tops after the dip in butter & cinnamon – I agree, best the first day, but even today, day 2, the boys each had one for breakfast! I am tempted to buy those “muffin top” pans and make them in those next time! Thanks!
I love the idea of muffin tops Carla…well not on me personally but baking the muffins in a muffin top pan! That’s the best part!
Do you prefer rice milk or soy milk when baking? My son drink Silk but I was wondering for non-allergic people would they enjoy baked goods with rice or soy better? Thanks.
This was one of my favorite muffins as a child, so I am thrilled to find an egg-free, dairy-free version for my son. My mom always rolled the entire muffin in the cinnamon sugar. We tried this recipe today and it is every bit as good as the original, thanks Kelly! My son ate the entire muffin top and all the way around the outside, just leaving a little piece of the middle. I assume he was trying to get as much cinnamon sugar as possible!
Kelly, I whipped up a batch of these this morning….my non-FA but incredibly picky son was the first one to bite into a muffin and he said, “Oh man, these are GOOD!” Followed immediately by a moan of delight from across the table…my FA son actually had his eyes closed in ecstasy.
We bought your cookbook at Christmas time and have yet to make anything from it that wasn’t absolutely wonderful…and I’m a hard sell when it comes to baked goods. Thanks for putting so much heart into your work here….it makes such a difference for my son when he has these types of yummy treats to enjoy!
Yummy! We enjoyed these muffins with vegetable soup on a cool fall evening.