I don’t particularly like sweet muffins, but I adore savoury ones, so I was quite taken with this recipe created by Linda Woodrow’s son, Casey.
I adapted the recipe slightly to use the ingredients I had on hand, and was delighted with the end result – the muffins were deliciously non-stodgy and very moreish. My neighbour Ellen made me promise to blog about them immediately.
Earlier in the day I’d roasted beets and butternut pumpkin, so those were added to the muffins. You could probably use any vegetables you have on hand – the original recipe specified roast pumpkin, sundried tomatoes and zucchini. I omitted the pinenuts and feta as I didn’t have any in the pantry.
Here’s my version:
- 265g (1¾ cups) self-raising flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 140g (1 cup) fresh corn kernels (approximately 1 ear of corn)
- 225g (1 cup) roasted vegetables (I used peeled and roasted butternut pumpkin and beetroot), diced
- 60g (2 oz) grated cheese (I used a sheep’s milk cheese)
- 1 large (59g) egg
- 190g (¾ cup) milk
- 60ml (¼ cup) extra virgin olive oil
1. Preheat oven to 200C (400F) or 180C (350F) with fan. Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper cups.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Add the vegetables and grated cheese and stir to combine.
3. In a separate bowl or jug, beat together the egg, milk and olive oil. Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients, then stir very gently until just moistened – do not overmix.
4. Spoon the ingredients evenly into the muffin cups, and bake for 20 – 25 minutes until golden brown, and a skewer inserted into one of the muffins comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
Casey, thanks for the inspiration and a great base recipe – we’ll certainly be baking these often!
. . . . .
Edit: Just made another batch of these – a variation on the variation:
- 200g self-raising flour
- 65g corn maize flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- fresh corn kernels from 2 ears of corn
- 150g roasted butternut pumpkin, diced
- 60g grated cheese
- 1 large (59g) egg
- 190g (¾ cup) milk
- 60ml (¼ cup) extra virgin olive oil
The maize flour gave them a golden yellow hue…
As suggested by Amanda, this batch is going straight into the freezer!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Those look SOOooo good. ( is that what you mean by moreish?)
I am also not such a fan of muffins- I only like them warm from the oven and if they are left over I think they should be tossed to the ducks.
These however would NOT be left over.
This looks great. I love savoury muffins too. I posted recently about my fussy kids. I found that if I turn anything into a muffin, they’ll eat it (no surprise there). So I use savoury muffins to dip into yummy winter soups instead of the usual plain bread.
Heidi, yes, more-ish, as in “please sir, I want some mooore..” :D
I’ve just had a cold muffin for breakfast and it’s still moist and tender and non-stodgy. I love being able to eat roast pumpkin and beetroot for breakfast!
Sonia, just read your “no lumps” post – do you have to chop everything up very finely to get it past the kids? It’s easier once they’re older, but it’s still the same in some ways – last night I was trying to get cabbage into Small Man. He obliged me with a single thin shred… ;-)
Girl,
what a beautiful pumpkin? I love pumpkins and they fit in almost everything and I am sure those muffins were perfect. I miss pumpkins like that one, they are totally absent in these Nordic fields where I’ve been “hiding” recently.
Do you enjoy pumpkin compotes? I love them and it is a quite traditional dessert in Brazil, made with butter pumpkins like that, fresh coconut grated, cinnamon sticks, cloves ( I never use cloves though) and sugar. It is so good, specially when served with fresh cured cheese which is also our traditional way of serving.
C.
I never think to make savoury muffins even though I have more of a savoury tooth than a sweet tooth. Once again your blog is a great source of ideas Celia! I particularly like the addition of corn to the base recipe (that top photo is particularly yummy)
Claudia, we don’t have a big culture of sweet pumpkin, although there is gramma pie, which is a bit like a covered sweet pumpkin pie. The compote sounds appealing – I love the combination of pumpkin and soft white cheese!
I’m glad you liked the pumpkin photo – I only took it because the butternut was just so perfect when I opened it. (Thanks to Tony at the markets who picked it for me – and such a bargain – $1/pumpkin!)
Sarah, I can’t take credit for this one – it was Casey’s recipe. Though I do have an addiction to corn and cheese muffins – and there was a brawl in the chook dome over the leftover cob! ;-)
The non stodginess of these muffins is very appealing! I really like the sound of them and they are vegetarian friendly too!
The kids have their moments. I am certainly chopping food up smaller but then again, as my husband pointed out, I may be prolonging this fussy period by doing it. So it’s a bit of both – ‘no lumps’ meals as well as steaming big chunks of vegies and putting it in front of them. I figure if they’re hungry, they’ll eat it!!
The kids love cabbage but don’t realise it – I make coleslaw with a low-fat dressing.
Like the other commentators, I love savoury muffins.
You can put so much good stuff into them and they still taste great!
I like to keep a batch frozen, so that I can grab one or two for a quick, healthy lunch.
Oh my, now that made me crave for this on this Sunday morning!! btw…congratulations on the award…well deserved. Have a happy Sunday my friend x
Amanda and Amanda, thank you! I suspect these would freeze very well…thanks for the suggestion.
Lorraine, so glad people understood what I meant by non-stodgy. Sometimes sweet muffins are just so heavy – not sure why it feels like that! Yes, and the vegetarian bit is good too…
Sonia, you’re doing a better job than we ever did. I think all we ever got into the boys when they were very little were cucumbers, tomatoes and capsicums. And the occasional frozen pea if I hid it well.. :)
MMMMMMMMM,..your savoury muffins look like the real thing!!
I so love butternut squash & to add roasted beetroot,…I like that flavour combo a lot!
Yum! Thanks for the great recipes. I am always looking for things I can send off to work with my hubby and these look perfect! I think I will bake some tomorrow.
great blog!!
Sophie, thanks! The beetroot was particularly nice…
LJ, hope your husband enjoys them! :)
59 grams. that’s a large egg in the UK! Well done that chicken! Nice muffins by the way. Never tried savoury ones, made cheese and bacon scones though…. Do you think muffins are nicer than scones?
Yes, I do! The baking powder gives them a very light texture…
Wooww…this is pretty awesome! BTW I saw your site from Tes and this is really a great site! Since i dont have an access to an oven yet, I will give this a try once i get my hands on to a good one! wooott! keep up the good work!
I love baking savoury muffins. I used to make somthing similar with corn and bacon. I have never tried corn and butternut combination before. Those muffins look so moist and perfect. They look great for breakfast. I will try this soon :)
Meowie, thanks for stopping by! :)
Tes, corn and bacon would be superb. I’m now thinking about adding roasted capsicum.. :)
Well I’ve never made muffins before.
So I’ve rectified that this very morning, having drooled (in the nicest possible way) over your post, Celia.
& sort of made up a savoury cheese and garden chive muffin recipe.
They’re cooling at the moment, so I’ll blog them later.
Thanks for the post, I wouldn’t have thought about them otherwise, which is often the way.
Celia, I cannot believe I missed this post! I don’t think it made it into my feed, or maybe it went to the spam folder (which happened more than once, I am afraid)
I love savory muffins, and these seem spectacular!
wonderful photos!
Gill, thanks for trying them out – hope you like them! My Pete’s been eating them for lunch – 2 muffins = @350cals if my adding up is right. I keep waiting for leftovers to share with the chooks, but it hasn’t happened. :)
Sally, thank you! I made your semolina loaf on the weekend, it went down a treat! The whole loaf was eaten in a couple of days.. :)
Here’s a much safer topic, I don’t feel I need to go off on one! These sound delicious and look very good indeed. I’ve made them with cheese and herbs before, but not with roasted veg – yum.
You know you’re welcome to go off on anything here, Choclette! :) The last batch I made of these had goats cheese, lots of corn kernels and some chopped olives..