Valentine's English Muffins

 My kids (and husband) love to have Egg McMuffin (minus the Mc) sandwiches in the morning for breakfast.  Pretty much every morning we are breaking out the English Muffins or the bagels to make an egg, ham, and cheese sandwich. 
A couple years ago I printed off a recipe for heart shaped English Muffins from Family Fun's website.  When we were out of English Muffins, I thought I would try the cute little Valentine heart ones because I had never made English Muffins before, and I was curious.  They were really easy, but with the rising time, were not done in time for breakfast!  :)  You can find the recipe here.  It was fun, and cute--- but to be honest, we prefer the store bought muffins.  Most things taste better homemade, but while these were fine, it is a recipe I would only make again for the cute heart factor, not for the taste. 

I couldn't find my regular heart cookie cutter and had to use the scalloped one.  I wondered how they would turn out.... but it was funny to see the scallops almost disappear as the dough rose and cooked.  Right after putting them on the corn meal sprinkled skillet, they started to puff up!   

Browned on one side, they are starting to look like English Muffins!

And here is the other side- they definitely look like heart shaped English Muffins.  My kids thought they were cute. 

And the taste test..... well--- they were more just heart shaped bread.  They didn't really have the flavor or texture of English muffins.  Where most English muffins are light and have big air pockets in the bread, these were dense, like regular bread.  Which is still totally fine.....just not an English muffin like we are used to!

A couple of tips for all of you out there.....since my kids (and hubby) like these pretty much every day, I had to come up with something easier and better than cooking the eggs in a pan every day.  I found out that if you use a bowl- these Anchor (2 cup sized) glass bowls work perfectly, they make the egg perfectly round and perfectly the size of an English muffin.  Just spray the bowl really well with cooking spray, and crack one egg into it.  Use a fork to scramble the egg, and put it in the microwave on high for 1 minute.  If I don't scramble it well enough, it will sometimes pop a little while cooking, but it's not a big deal.  I usually stick the English muffin in the toaster, then work on the egg, and by the time the toast is out and buttered, the egg is done and ready to turn over onto the toast.  Topping with a piece of cheese and a couple slices of ham, you are done in about 2-3 minutes with a nice, easy, warm breakfast!  Easy Peasy!

 

Another tip for all of you..... we like the Thomas brand of English muffins.  But, we had the problem of them drying out before we finished the box, even when trying to keep the plastic bag closed.  The solution to that problem was easy, too. 

When I buy them at the store (usually Sam's Club or Costco), I take them home and slice them so I don't have to wash the bread knife every day.  So I slice them all at once. 

Then I put the sliced muffins back in the bag, and toss the box in the recycle bin.  The muffins can hang out with your bread on the counter, or after slicing and bagging them, I will put them in the freezer, and just pull out a few days' worth at a time.  No more stale muffins, and no wasted moldy muffins= awesome.