Saturday, June 03, 2006

Me and my muffin

I do love my muffins. I've been seriously addicted to juicy blueberry ones, needing at least one a day. I've recently discovered the joy of frosted dark chocolate & cherry muffins, and will bake another batch of tongue-tickling chocolate & chilly muffins and eye-pleasing cocoa & raspberry muffins when I get hold of some chilli chocolate and fresh raspberries, respectively. I have a very sweet tooth, and a lovely muffin just makes that afternoon cuppa so much more perfect.

But I also like savoury muffins. They are easy to make, are ideal for take-along-to-the-office lunch or a picnic in the park. These particular muffins, I keep telling to myself, are verging on the healthy side. While they aren't fat-free, they use sour cream instead of more common melted butter or oil. As the sour cream I use has about 10 per cent fat, the muffins are lighter in calories (but not compromising the taste). I've used feta & sun-dried tomatoes here, but you can certainly use chopped olives, roasted red peppers, blue cheese or goat's cheese instead. As for the herbs - anything goes, so just use whatever you fancy.

Savoury muffins with feta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes
(Juustu-tomatimuffinid)



200 g sour cream or crème fraîche (low-fat is fine)
3 eggs
1 Tbsp baking powder
5oo ml plain flour
a pinch of salt
100 grams feta cheese
a very generous handful of chopped sundried tomatoes
a handful of chopped fresh parsley

Mix sour cream and eggs, then gently fold in the flour, baking powder and salt. Add crumbled cheese and tomatoes and parsley. Mix just enough to bring the ingredients together (lumpy is fine).
Divide the mixture between prepared muffin cases and bake in a preheated 200˚C oven for about 15 minutes.

Yields 12 chunky muffins. These are best on the day you made them, though perfectly delicious on the following day as well.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yep, needed something savoury after all that sugar. I love feta and I am going to the Ormskirk market tomorrow to get some from the Greek guy, who isn't actually Greek, but half Turkish, half Lebanese, but the feta is apparently. Greek. I willl make these at the earliest opportunity and you can contradict me, but I believe nothing beats the flavours of the South.

Orchidea said...

They look very GOOD! Can I have one?

Anonymous said...

I don't really like parsley, is it ok to use another herb like...basil?

Valentina said...

Like you I am a big fan of muffins. There was a time when I used to make them so much that I had to have a break.I love your recipe.

K and S said...

ooh, these look good too!

Antti said...

LOL, Pille, you crack me up!!! :D

Silviapi said...

Hi, happy to read your blog! Check this out: although it is in italian I'm sure you can understand it very well! http://bravabravamariarosa.blogspot.com/2006/03/spanakomuffins-nostalgia-di-paros.html
Bye
Silvia

Pille said...

Roxy - that's one very multicultural feta cheese you're consuming in Omskirk:) Re: parsley - just use whatever you think would go well with feta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes - basil, thyme, oregano, ...

Orchidea - sure! Help yourself!

Valentina - thanks! I had a cappucino muffin with my breakfast coffee today (bought at a train station), but I realised that home-made is definitely better..

K&S - they tasted lovely, too:)

Antti - just trying to please my ever-demanding readers:)

Silvia - your spanakomuffin looks wonderful! My
Greek feta and spinach omelettes are also worth checking out:)