For our GBBO themed meeting, I made a recipe by Nadiya, last year's winner, which just happened to feature in July's edition of WI Life. They are supposed to be Feta & Dill Muffins but I hate dill with a passion so substituted a few different herbs (detailed below) and made some other minor adjustments too like adding Parmesan to the top, although I plan to change them again next time - there are so many things you could add to them. They are also super easy to make!
They went down very well at the club, it's nice to have a savoury bake for a change and we all enjoyed them hot as I only just got them in the oven before everyone arrived! (I forgot to preheat as I'd prepped all of the dry and wet ingredients earlier in the day ready to mix!)
Ingredients:
175g Plain flour
50g Wholewheat flour
2 1/2 tsp Baking powder (I only used 2 as I could only find self-raising wholemeal flour)
1 tsp Fine salt
1 Medium egg
275ml Whole milk
100g cottage cheese (I only had fat free)
75g Unsalted butter, melted & cooled
50g Feta cheese, crumbled
2 tbsp Dill or (1 tbsp Chives, chopped, 1 tsp Thyme leaves, 1tbsp Basil, chopped)
1/2 tsp Wholegrain mustard (I added 2 tsp instead but next time I plan to add Dijon as well)
1 tsp Ground black pepper
8 Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
25g pumpkin seeds
Parmesan, finely grated (optional)
Method:
Prep 15 mins.
Cook 20-25 mins.
Can be frozen.
Preheat the oven to 200oC, fan 180oC, Gas 6.
Mix together the flours, salt and baking powder in a large bowl.
Add the milk, egg, cottage cheese, melted butter, feta cheese, mustard, herbs and black pepper. (I also added half of the sun-dried tomatoes here.) Mix it all together and spoon into muffin cases. (I prefer not to use muffin cases so you get a nice golden edge, it works especially well if the muffins are cheesy!)
Top each muffin with a little chopped sun-dried tomato and sprinkle with the Pumpkin seeds and grated Parmesan.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. (I find this hard to judge when there's melted feta in them as that can leave a streak on the skewer.)
They are delicious when eaten hot & fresh from the oven!
There are so many ways you could adapt this recipe. I decided that next time I would mix some Parmesan in to the mixture as well as putting it on top. I would put all of the sun-dried tomatoes in rather than on top. I'd use more mustard, maybe even some English as well for more of a kick. Lynda also suggested sliced green olives which would also work well, or even just a few sliced black ones.
Nadiya says they are particularly nice when eaten sliced, with cream cheese and smoked salmon - I tried this for breakfast this morning with a couple of my leftover muffins and it's delicious! The twins also enjoyed them for breakfast, ideal to have ready for a busy morning or even a picnic lunch.
