Cook’s Challenge: Breakfast Blueberry Bread Pudding Muffins

Now, here’s a challenge for the adventurous cook: Create and cook a unique dish using foods which you find in somebody else’s kitchen. I am here in Houston visiting for several weeks and the host family went on a short trip leaving me to baby sit the two dogs. In the meantime, I had plenty of time on my hands. I took the challenge and decided to browse through the refrigerator and pantry to see what I could cook. I found a container of luscious blueberries which no one seemed to be eating, stale Italian bread and lots and lots of eggs. I decided to combine bread pudding and French toast recipes and turn them into “Breakfast Blueberry Bread Pudding Muffins.” I’m dreaming of a traditional Louisiana bread pudding served as a tasty breakfast muffin treat. Yum.

Recipe Inspiration

My recipe inspiration for these muffins is yet another grocery store magazine. This magazine was full of air fryer recipes. All the recipes looked so tempting. However, the first challenge in making the recipe was that I could not find an air fryer in the kitchen. And, the recipe had lots of problems in terms of ingredient quantities. Since I was already into the process of making the muffins, I made adjustments as I went along including baking the muffins in the standard kitchen oven.

The magazine’s original recipe seemed to be a combination of bread pudding and French toast — both have many similarities. However, bread pudding is very sweet while French toast usually does not contain any sugar (or just a small amount). I tried to find a middle ground.

I like the original recipe’s addition of cream cheese in the center of the muffin. I found that adding a little sugar, egg and vanilla extract to the filling made the cream cheese “pop.” I liked the idea of baking the dessert in muffin tins. However, this recipe yielded 12 standard size muffins (and not eight as the original recipe stated). Adding blueberries to the muffins gave a “fresh” twist to the recipe.

Recipe Ingredients

Here are the ingredients for my recipe. The ingredients are standard ones used in bread pudding recipes. These included lots of eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla extract, a punch of salt and vanilla extract. I added margarine to give a little richness. Stale bread is the other main ingredient. A dollop of cream cheese was added to the center of each muffin.

Recipe Obstacle — or Challenge

Here’s another other obstacle which I encountered when mixing up the recipe. I was sure that a loaf of Artisan bread was hiding somewhere in the kitchen. However, I could only find two slices of stale Italian bread. The recipe proportions needed 8 cups of bread cubes. So, I substituted in hamburger buns for the remainder of the bread. Problem solved.

This recipe is a good use for stale bread since it absorbs the milk and egg mixture. A combination of breads is perfect!

Making the recipe

This is a “one bowl” recipe. Combine the milk, eggs, melted margarine, sugar, vanilla extract and salt in a large bowl.

Oops, no whisk. I use a spoon to combine the liquid ingredients.

Then fold in the bread cubes and let them soak up the milk/egg mixture. Fold in the fresh blueberries.

Divide evenly into 12 into well-oiled muffin cups. I used standard-size muffin tins.

Add a dollop of cream cheese on top of each muffin. I believe that a mixture of softened cream cheese combined with sugar, egg and vanilla extract would make these muffins even more tasty. The final recipe reflects this change.

These breakfast “muffins” were moist and flavorful. The texture was a “pudding” consistency similar to French toast or bread pudding rather than traditional muffins. Sprinkle on powdered sugar and serve with syrup. We really have a great breakfast treat.

This was an interesting experiment in creating a recipe using ingredients “on hand.” Plus, it gave a chance to combine and modify bread pudding and air fryer recipes. I enjoy challenge; all those eggs and stale bread just shouted “bread pudding.” I don’t think that I even made a dent in all the eggs in the refrigerator. I do need to replace the milk and cream cheese before the family returns.

And, here are the two grandchildren for whom I am babysitting. Each has their own personality. Bessie (on the left) is our puppy; she’s mellow and happy here. Blitz is not so sure about the situation. However, they kindly posed for treats. I love them both.