Canele Pastry Inspired Muffin – Low-Sugar Brunch Idea

Canele pastry is something I love to make in muffins, because that’s the tin pan I have, and there’s no tasty substitute for this special pastry. It’s like all pastry, that starts with a little pat of butter, but ends with a dark crust.

…And an optional simple, but decadent custard you can pour on top with the healthier baked-in method below… for this unmistakably happy food.

…Which btw, like a baking alchemist, I think I cracked the code to how to make this delightful elevated pastry muffin (that anyone would love), but with healthier amounts so that this can belong on a weekly home menu.

This has the pastry ingredient touch, bread rise texture, and muffin cake tastes. Oh, plus added-back vanilla custard that adds flavor and wins smiles.

I was inspired to make this from caneles, that if you’re not familiar, are pastries from the southwestern region of France, and specifically Bordeaux.  I think they’re even better or as good as a croissant (with less prep work) 🥐

…So that’s saying something!

And canele pastry is unique by its shape (that’s closer to an upside down bell pepper shape with scalloped or fluted edges, if I had to describe).

…But more unique than shape is its dark and almost shockingly blackish exterior color.

…And what you would deem other pastry and bakes this color, as burnt.

But then, the interior is a contrasting creamy pale color.

That makes a canele pastry one-in-a-kind. It’s dark crispy chic, and light and soft. It’s like us peeps: tough and tender.

And this nice effect can be done and baked in a regular kitchen oven, like I did.

While oven baking, the kitchen smells like a buttery pastry shop. And this comes from the butter and eggs, where even a little bit of butter to coat the pan will achieve…

Because there are 3 ingredients that I keep healthy reduced here: sugar (that’s not white or granulated), butter, and flour.

And with those modifications, then this is something that can be made regularly or weekly. For me, as often as bread baking.

But with the healthy tweaks, that changes the bake from a traditional canele to more of a soft bread texture (and less custardy interior). But so delicious and enjoyable in the end.

You get to decide if you want to add back a little side custard ontop as the zhugh… or let your sharing guests decide the individual amount with a start and stop of a drizzle. Easy custard can be the new maple syrup.

And this is how this recipe turns out to be similar to an enriched and soft bread dough interior like a brioche, with delicious pastry tastes.

I made this with a large muffin tin that was easier to find than canele molds.

If you want to make a classic canele shape, there are fluted, deeper molds available in the world. They’re often sold individual, and the copper ones would need to be seasoned.

But for practical making, it’s much easier to use an everyday larger muffin pan or something like that.

You can even use your cupcake tins to make a pseudo-canele pastry version that will be brunch breakfast-loved. 🥰

And a dark muffin like this on a table adds enjoyable bite-into flavor moments.

It’s as easy to make the batter and bake the muffin, as a regular muffin or French Toast (for that matter) for a nice weekend brunch.

And similarly with the French-y bread, there’s no kneading needed for this baked pastry which saves time and an extra bowl needed to be cleaned.

So this nice pastry can be your new simple French Toast routine…

And when you add a custard drizzle on the side (that can be vanilla, lemon, or your fave flavor of the season), this will be an experience! Custard starts with  the similar ingredients that’s in pastry (egg yolks, milk, and vanilla at a minimum). The holes will drink up the custard, and you get to eat the thirsty holes and this big pastry (pie?) hole. 😋

To make a smooth vanilla custard drizzle: I used warmed almond milk to temper egg yolks, and incorporate a pat of butter (…yes, a pat!), vanilla extract, and cornstarch.

Pastry is one of the few bakes where I never substitute butter. It’s the star ingredient for taste and texture. But just a little will do ya!

You can getaway with 1/2 Tbsp of butter if keeping it low fat-calorie  matters to you. It will do the trick, and give the beautiful taste in your mouth, and the aroma of a pastry shop.

…So with less butter, you’re not missing out. And that makes my former hotel catering self happy being around butter.

To make a thicker custard sauce (if you like): add more egg yolks and corn starch, and use whole milk.

Then refrigerate the custard to set. But before doing that, what’s easier than adding a messy plastic film wrap ontop, that you’d have to figure out what to do with after you’re done… is to instead find a round plastic piece laying around, maybe ready for recycle, like a yogurt container top (and re-use).

Cut that piece so it fits just inside the size of the vessel you’ll add your custard to. Pour the custard in first, and then place the cut plastic piece ontop, that should float nicely on the custard surface.

Voila!… no film at the top. It’s invisible.

With similar ingredients to the custard, you can also prepare your special canele or muffin pastry batter, back-to-back using the same cooking and baking tools.

For the canele pastry batter:

You want to temper-cook the egg yolks without scrambling them, so it’s easiest to do that all-in-one with warm-hot milk, while melting the butter in one mixture…

This way you don’t need to remember to plan ahead and take the butter out in advance! So that save-a-step can easily beat a recipe that calls for easily-forgotten softened butter.

For the sweetness, add a smidge (about 1/2 tsp) of honey that sweetly brings out the buttery tastes in food pairing harmony… and you’ll be reminded when baking and your oven has scents like you’re in a. pastry shop!

Honey doesn’t need to be melted, but if you were to use traditional granulated sugar, then adding that into your heated milk medium to incorporate, would be good.

You then add your warm and melted ingredients to the broken up egg yolk and flour mixture bowl, making sure to whisk or stir vigorously and quickly so the egg doesn’t scramble.

I switch to an easy silverware spoon at this point, as I find it less sticky than a whisk.

And if coordinating both hands at the same time is tricky: with one hand, it’s easiest if you pour a little of the hot milk in the beginning, so the egg yolk isn’t heat shocked. Stir vigorously and then add more of the milk until it’s all smoothly incorporated into a liquid. This will be a liquid-y batter (that’ll look like a crepe or thin pancake batter).

Btw, this combining heated milk method to eggs is the same way you would  temper in making home ice cream or frozen desserts with eggs, minus some ingredients (no flour). So it’s a good ‘lil technique to learn if you don’t already know it!

…And if you want to practice more, then you’ll love making vanilla or chocolate soft serve ice cream with eggs, that makes a great amuse bouche.

This also would be amazing food pairing to go with your pastry. 💭

Ready to get crackin’?