I feel a bit sorry for the muffin. Not the yeasty, bready, English ones – the centrepiece of many ajammy afternoon tea – buttheir cakey American counterparts. Too often, we associate them with the sweet, cellophane-wrapped offerings on many a coffee-chain counter, cloying with too much sugar and sticky withcheap oil, or worthily stuffed with bran and heavy enough to take out a bear at 20 paces, if you have ahalf-decent throwing arm.
But it doesn't have to be so. They can be tasty, light and flavoursome, and, better yet, they're incredibly easy to make. Personally, I'm particularly partial to a savoury muffin. You can whip up a batch in half an hour and have a perfect homemade offering to tuck into lunchboxes and picnic baskets, to enjoy as a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack, orto serve with soup as a quirky alternative to a bread roll.
Savoury muffins are a great way ofusing up the garden's bounty, too. If you have abundant courgettes, carrots, beetroot, spinach (or even a few handfuls wallowing in the salad drawer, about to expire from neglect), whip them into a batch of muffins. I'm not saying this because it's a good way of ensuring your five a day – though it is – but because grated or puréed vegetables are delicious and help to keep a savoury muffin moist, light and, well, savoury.
I hope you'll try my recipes today, but I hope you'll also use them as ablueprint to create your own. It's kind of like fancy bread-making without all the hassle of proving dough. So, experiment with different flours – substitute a third of the flours used here with cornmeal, buckwheat or spelt. Toss some grated apple in with grated carrot, try them with different cheeses –dollops of soft goat's cheese or cubed feta stirred into the mix work well. Add a handful of toasted nuts and be generous with the herbs. Stir in some chopped olives or strips of roasted red pepper. Roasted and puréed squash or sweet potato with a few grinds of nutmeg are delicious later in the year, too.
I have a few tips to avoid the bear-missile situation. First, and perhaps most importantly, work quickly. Fold the ingredients in with a spatulauntil only just combined. This will ensure the finished result is light, not rubbery. I use yoghurt orbuttermilk to moisten, because it gives agood flavour and pleasing texture. Ifyou don't have buttermilk, just add a good squeeze of lemon juice to whole milk and leave it for10 minutes or so before adding tothe mix.
When it comes to ladling the batter into the muffin tin (you will need aproper, deep-cupped muffin tin, but they're easy to get hold of and pretty cheap), use an ice-cream scoop if you have one. It ensures you get evenly-sized muffins that bake at the same rate. Alternatively, use a large spoon and rub it with alittle cooking oil, which helps the batter slip off easily. When you get them out of the oven, leave them tocool in a tin for a few minutes, so they firm up a bit, then transfer to arack. They're best eaten on the day you make them – while they're still warm, if possible – but will freeze quite well for a month, too.
Courgette and pine nut muffins
In summer, I like to toss hot pasta with sautéed courgettes, pine nuts and parmesan. The combination works very well in a muffin, too. Makes 12.
200g plain flour
40g jumbo oats
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1-2 tsp flaky sea salt (depending on how salty your parmesan is)
A few grinds of black pepper
8 large basil leaves, shredded
60g parmesan, coarsely grated, plus another 20g or so to sprinkle on top
2 eggs
250g whole milk yoghurt
4 tbsps olive or rapeseed oil
200g courgettes, coarsely grated
40g cup pine nuts, toasted
40g sultanas
Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and line a muffin tin with 12paper cases.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, bicarb, salt, pepper, basil and parmesan. Ina separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, yoghurt and oil, pour this over the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula until roughly combined –don't overmix. Add the courgettes, pine nuts and sultanas, and stir just until evenly distributed.
Spoon or scoop the batter into themuffin tin and sprinkle over the rest of the parmesan. Bake for about18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
Red onion, cheddar and bacon muffins
These strong flavours work well together, but you can always play around with the combinations. Tryspring onions instead of red, pancetta instead of bacon, and anystrong cheese in place of the cheddar. Makes 12.
1 tsp oil
100g streaky bacon, cut into 1cmpieces
1 red onion, finely diced
250g wholemeal self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs
80g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
200ml buttermilk
1 tbsp finely chopped chives (optional)
150g strong cheddar, grated
Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and line a muffin tin with 12paper cases.
Warm the oil over a medium heat and fry the bacon in it until just crisp. Lift the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. In the same fat, sauté the onion until just softened, about five minutes, then set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, whisk together theflour, baking powder, bicarbonateof soda and salt. In a jug, whisk the eggs, butter and buttermilk, stir them into the flour mixture with aspatula until just combined, then fold in the cooled bacon, onion, chives, if using, and two-thirds of the cheese until just evenly distributed.
Spoon or scoop the mixture into the muffin tin, sprinkle on the rest of the cheese, and bake for about 18minutes, until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
Carrot, spinach and cumin muffins
Cumin adds great flavour to these muffins, and the seeds add a little crunch. If you don't have pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds make a good substitute, or use a combination of the two. Makes 12.
80g unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus 10g for frying
1 onion, finely diced
2 tsp ground cumin
150g spinach, tough stalks removed and very finely shredded
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1½ tsp salt
2 eggs
275g whole milk yoghurt
150g carrots, grated
40g pumpkin seeds, toasted
Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and line a muffin tin with 12paper cases.
Warm the 10g of butter in a large frying pan and sauté the onion witha pinch of salt until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Addthe cumin, stir for a minute, then add the spinach and stir until wilted and soft. Cool.
In a large bowl, whisk together theflour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. In a jug, whisk the melted butter, eggs and yoghurt. Pour the wet ingredients over the flour and stir with a spatula until just combined. Fold in the cooled onions and spinach, the carrots and seeds. Spoon into the cases and bake for about 18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
