Blueberry Slab Muffin French Toast

By MooK

Ingredients

• Blueberry muffin batter:
• Approx 1 cup (180 grams) of frozen/fresh blueberries
• 1 tbsp (10 grams) of all-purpose flour
• 6 1/2 tbsp (93 grams) of unsalted butter, room-temperature
• 1/3 cup (66 grams) of granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 tbsp (54 grams) of honey
• 2 tbsp (40 grams) of molasses
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup (105 grams) of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (105 grams) of cake flour
• 3/4 tsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of baking soda
• 3/4 tsp of salt
• 1/3 cup of plain yogurt
• .
• Streusel:
• 1/3 cup (40 grams) of all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup (40 grams) of almond flour, or blanched almond flakes
• 2 1/2 tbsp (33 grams) of sugar
• 1/8 tsp of salt
• 3 tbsp (43 grams) of unsalted butter, cold
• .
• Blueberry cream cheese whip:
• 1 cup (250 grams) of cream cheese
• 1/4 cup (78 grams) of fresh/thawed blueberries
• 1/3 cup (43 grams) of powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp (30 grams) of honey
• 1 tbsp of whole milk
• .
• For frying:
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup of whole milk
• Unsalted butter for the pan

Preparation

Step 1

To make the blueberry muffin batter: (can be made the day ahead)

Mix the frozen, or fresh blueberries with 1 tbsp of flour then keep them in the freezer until needed. Cream the unsalted butter and sugar together in a stand-mixer with pedal attachment on medium-high speed, stopping and scraping the bottom of the bowl a few times in between, until the mixture is light, fluffy and creamy like mayonnaise. Add the honey and molasses, and mix again until evenly combined. Then add the egg and vanilla extract, beating the mixture on medium-high speed until velvety and thick with trails of ribbons. Sift together the flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt directly into the mixer bowl. Mix on low-speed until roughly combined, then add the plain yogurt and mix on low again until the batter is evenly mixed (scrape the bottom of the bowl once to be sure). But be careful not to over mix the batter. Keep the batter in the fridge for 1 hour while prepping for streusels and cream cheese whip.

To make the streusels: Combine every ingredients in the food-processor, and run until the mixture resembles coarse meal, but be careful not to do it for too long that the butter heats up. Transfer to a bowl, plastic-wrapped and refrigerated until needed.

To make the blueberry cream cheese whip: Combine every ingredients in the food-processor (no washing needed, just wiped clean is fine) and run until smoothly pureed. Transfer to a bowl, plastic-wrapped and refrigerated until needed.

To bake the slab muffin: Preheat the oven on 400ºF/200ºC (this temperature will be lowered once the muffin is in the oven).

Fold the flour-coated blueberries into the batter just until evenly distributed. Lightly butter and flour a 9″ square-pan, then pour and smooth out the batter inside the pan. Apply a generous and even layer of streusels on top, and place it in the middle rack inside the oven. Lower the temperature down to 325ºF/165ºC, and bake until the the entire slab-muffin is puffed up and a wooden skewer comes out clean from the center of the muffin, approx 40 ~ 45 min. If the top streusel doesn’t look like it’s going to get enough color near the end of baking, increase the temperature to 400ºF/200ºC (switch to top-heat if available) for the last 5 min.

Let the slab-muffin cool down completely inside the pan before doing anything else. If being made the night before, cover with plastic wrap and leave at room-temperature.

To French-toast the slab-muffin: Beat the egg and whole milk together to make the custard. Cut the slab-muffin into 9 equal squares. Heat up a non-stick skillet with a little bit of unsalted butter (about 1 tsp for each) over medium-heat. Careful dip the muffin-squares in the custard on all 4 sides, allowing the muffin a few seconds on each side to absorb custard. Then cook the muffin-squares inside the skillet until nice and golden browned on all sides.

Serve the muffin French toast warm with blueberry cream cheese whip (if some blueberry juice has seeped out, just whisk it back into the cream cheese).