I’ve got a muffin hangover today. In fact, that’s a lie, I deserve to have a muffin hangover today, because I ate… errr, six muffins last night, instead of my dinner. If that had been six of the supermarket’s in-store bakery, not-quite the finest double chocolate efforts I might not be so chipper about it, but the muffins I ate were actually really wholesome, soft, crumbly little cakes with very little sugar or unhealthy bits, so I feel absolutely great. There’s a very good reason for this muffin related excess and it’s all in your interest, so let me tell you why…
Today’s recipe is another one I’ve had kicking around in the back room of my mind for a while, along with making muffins with no added sugar. When it came to my recipe testing session yesterday, in the true style of an impatient child I opted for sweets first, making the no-added sugar banana pecan muffins hastily and feasting on them generously (3 in total… oops). These will be coming to the blog very soon, they’re a no-added sugar piece of cake to add to the low sugar arsenal I’m creating for the lovely, dedicated and loyal followers of this site. They’re a great, fresh little treat with a fraction of the calories and sugar compared to muffins loaded up with refined sugar, honey or syrup.
Main course was next, hot-melt sun-dried tomato and mozzarella muffins, made with my favourite flour, spelt. In the world of blogging, (well, my world of blogging at least) recipes occasionally need a few tweaks to get there. These muffins were one of those recipes, the flavour was just lacking slightly, so I went through a couple of herbs and different flavours before finally settling on the mix we have here. To reach this point, I made three separate batches of muffins. Yes, they’re everywhere. And of course, as any cook knows, you have to try your food, which saw me eating muffin after muffin, all in the name of recipe testing.
By the time I reached muffin number five I’d decided that dinner was no longer required, but glanced across and saw a remnant of banana left over from earlier and scoffed it quickly, like a very simple fruit amuse bouche between muffin courses. By muffin number six, I felt things were getting silly, so resolved to only have a little bite to check it for flavour, then leave the rest for another time. I tentatively cut into the hot, light, soft muffin, gently eased it apart and watched the gooey, molten mozzarella stretch itself across the plate. Before I knew it, it was an empty plate I saw before me. I’m not sure what happened in those moments of delerium, I don’t really remember if I’m honest, one minute it was there, the next it was gone. All very peculiar
Savoury muffins like this are a fabulous thing to serve up alongside the statutory sweet treats if you have people coming over for coffee. Even though most people love a bit of cake, if it’s pre-lunch I find a lot of adults will plump for the savoury option first, and muffins like these are perfect contenders especially if you can serve them whilst still hot and gooey. So here’s the recipe for my sun-dried tomato and mozzarella muffins, I hope you enjoy them, and remember to leave enough for the guests!
Hot-melt sun-dried tomato and mozzarella muffins
By Gavin Wren
Makes 8-10 muffins
Uses a muffin tin and mixing bowls
PDF recipe card to download or print
Ingredients
125g wholemeal spelt flour
125g white spelt flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
0.25 teaspoons salt
A few grinds of pepper
2 tablespoons dried oregano
80g (drained weight) sun-dried tomatoes, from a jar in oil, chopped.
180ml semi skimmed milk
70g yoghurt
2 large eggs
40ml oil from the sun-dried jar
40ml extra virgin olive oil
125g ball mozzarella, cut into 5-10mm chunks
2-3 sun-dried tomatoes, cut into strips
Extra oregano to sprinkle
Directions
Get a large mixing bowl and a small mixing bowl.
Sieve the flours, baking powder, salt and pepper into the large bowl, then add the oregano and give it all a good mix.
In the smaller bowl, add the sun-dried tomatoes, milk, yoghurt, eggs and oils, then whisk them all together until combined.
Add the mozzarella to the large bowl and toss together. Then add the contents of the small bowl and mix with a flexible spatula until all combined.
Pour the mixture into your prepared tins, filling the holes 90% of the way up the side, scatter a little more oregano on top and lay a strip of sun-dried tomato across the top, then bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes, until well risen and a skewer comes out cleanly.
