Dairy, Egg and Nut Free French Puff Muffins

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.