Cream Cheese French Toast Muffins

I am such a fan of cream cheese especially around the breakfast table: bagels and smear, cream cheese danishes, cream cheese stuffed french toast… Oh, how my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  If you are a fan like me, these Cream Cheese French Toast Muffins topped with this 5-minute simple berry syrup need to be added to the list.  They’re perfectly sweet and creamy and can even be made the night before. These muffins have a perfectly sweet cream cheese flavor that will be fancied by all that taste them especially with that gorgeous berry syrup.

A couple months back I posted this amazing Dulce De Leche French Toast Bake. It has a lot of classic french toast flavors with a caramel-y twist. We love it but sometimes I’m in the mood for something creamy but serves well with a fruit syrup or compote. These Cream Cheese French Toast Muffins are IT! My girls love that they are “mini” because we bake them in a muffin tin but you can totally make a full bake, in a 9×13 inch pan–there’s a picture below of that. I love making this for breakfast when I have a loaf of day old bread that needs to be used, want to prep it the night before or when I’m having a cream cheese hankering for breakfast, which seems to be almost all the time.  😉

I totally just had a thought… how perfect would these muffins and syrup be for a fun Valentine’s breakfast?!?!  Whether that’s with your significant other or with the whole family, they will love these for breakfast… unless you have a family member like my husband who won’t come near cheese. LOL  In that case, try this Dulce De Leche French Toast Bake, you could even make them as a muffin 🙂

Back to these Cream Cheese French Toast Muffins.  They are really easy to make and this berry syrup is even easier. For the muffin part here’s where we’ll start.

Start by cubing the bread. If you plan to make this the night before, it’s best to use a crusty day old bread to avoid it going too soggy. I like to get thick cut bread and do 1×1 inch cubes or so.

Now for the cream cheese part.  Make sure the cream cheese is room temperature otherwise it’s very hard to make this mixture smooth.  In a mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, whip the cream cheese for just a few seconds to break it up. This will also help the mixture become smooth more quickly.

Next, add the sweetened condensed milk. Blend until smooth.

After the cheese mixture is smooth, pour in the cream. Mix again until blended.

Once the cream cheese mixture is smooth, scoop out enough to fill the sweetened condensed milk can (that should be empty at this point). Set it aside. You will used the portion you’ve set aside to use as the cream cheese topping on each muffin before baking.

With the remainder cheese mixture that’s in the mixing bowl, add the vanilla, eggs and evaporated milk.  If you don’t have evaporated milk you can use 3/4 cup regular milk in place of it.  I like using evaporated milk because it seems to be more creamy and rich but some people don’t prefer it.  Blend the mixture until smooth.

Now, using a pan spray, lightly spray your muffin tins.  This will help to avoid sticking after baking.  Fill each cup, to the top, with bread cubes.  These little bread filled cups are ready for a nice creamy soak.

Add about 1/4 cup of the egg mixture to each cup.  You want the mixture to come about 2/3 to 3/4 the way up the cup. Lightly press bread into the mixture to enable full absorption. Make sure there’s enough room at the top to add the cream cheese topping layer without spillage.

Add a large scoop, about 1-2 tablespoons, of the reserved cream cheese topping, that was set aside in the sweetened condensed milk can, to each muffin cup.  Don’t they look so yummy already?!

They are now ready for a heat wave in the oven. 350 degrees for about 20 minutes will do the trick.  When they are done, they will be puffed up and the center should be set.

If you’d prefer a full bake style instead of muffins, make in a 9×13 inch pan instead of muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until puffed and set.

When these come out of the oven the air will release and the muffins (or bake) will “deflate.” That’s totally normal. Using a butter knife, loosen the muffins and lift out.

They are delicious by themselves…

But even better with this 5-minute Simple Berry Syrup!

AND the bake is just as good…

Okay, now my mouth is watering AGAIN and I want to make this for err… breakfast for dinner. 😉

Are you a cream cheese fan? What would you serve with these cream cheese french toast muffins?

If you like this french toast recipe you might also like this Dulce De Leche French Toast Bake recipe. 🙂

Looking for the 5-minute Simple Berry Syrup recipe?… find it here!