We went through all the nuts and fruit combinations, all the chocolate combinations and chocolate/fruit combinations - and then began to think savoury.
The very first combination that struck us, was Bacon & Cheese. Now that seemed to be a workable combination for a breakfast or elevenses muffin, provided enough cheese was involved. So often, in recipes, cheese is on the ingredients list but in insufficient quantities to make the kind of flavour impact that cheese lovers like us are looking for. To our way of thinking, if you're going to have cheese in something, then we want to taste it - not just imagine that it's there, somewhere, under the rest of the flavours.
So, what we have here is a very cheesy, very bacony, Bacon & Cheese Muffin.
Sprinkled with cheese and ready for the oven |
However, as a breakfast treat - or a school break time treat - you'd have to go a long way to beat them.
Mmmmn ... bacon & cheese goodness! |
I thoroughly recommend a good strong cup of coffee along with these muffins - and a drop of warm sunshine and a comfortable patio would be good, but we can't have everything!
BACON & CHEESE MUFFINS (makes 8-10 large and 10-14 small)
Ingredients :
340g smoked back bacon
110g strong mature cheddar, grated (10g separated out for sprinkling)
360g self raising flour
2 tsp English Mustard powder
half a tsp paprika
half a tsp cayenne
1 tbsp sugar (I used a rounded tsp of Truvia)
100ml extra virgin olive oil or rapeseed oil
2 large eggs
250ml buttermilk
50ml semi skimmed milk (or plain yoghurt).
Method :
1. Pre-heat your oven to 180degF/350degC/gas4.
2. Cook the rashers of bacon - whole - under the grill until the fat has rendered out but before they become crispy. Put them on a plate and allow to cool completely.
3. While the bacon is cooling, grate the cheddar.
4. Take each rasher of bacon and with scissors, cut into small dice.
5. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, mustard, paprika, cayenne) until thoroughly mixed.
6. In another bowl, combine all the wet ingredients (oil, eggs, buttermilk, milk) and give them a whisk with a balloon whisk until thoroughly mixed.
7. Combine the liquid ingredients with the dry ingredients in the large bowl plus add the bacon and cheese. Give everything a good few stirs - but don't over-mix. It is good with muffins to retain a certain lumpiness to the mixture, so don't worry if there are small clumps of un-mixed in flour. Too much mixing makes a tough muffin!
8. Decant the mixture into one or two silicone muffin trays which have been placed upon a baking tray (otherwise they're hell to handle!). Sprinkle over the remaining 10g of cheese.
9. Put into the oven to bake for some 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the muffin comes out clean.
10. Place onto a wire cooling rack and fight off all comers until ready to be eaten!
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Well they look delicious - really fancy one Right Now!
ReplyDeleteI don't blame you, Suzy - they are so moreish! I debated making smaller muffins and so getting more of them, but decided that we'd all just eat two at a time - so there wasn't much point! lol
DeleteThese look fabulous!
ReplyDeleteThis is probably something you're already aware of, but rather than buying buttermilk you can just add a good squeeze of lemon juice to normal milk and set aside for 10 mins and voila. I have terrible trouble finding buttermilk in the supermarkets and this seems to work equally well.
Sx
Thanks, Seren!
DeleteI have tucked that nugget of information away behind my ear for a time when I can't find buttermilk. Our local Asda has it in regularly, which is brilliant, but I'm sure that one day they'll let me down. When that happens, I'll know what to do. :)
i like how u made yr post very interesting with sprinkles of anecdotes :) i was hooked onto every word and i like that. u have a great blog and can see much effort has been put in. U are the kind that i call a real foodie. i'll keep coming in to steal regular peeks from now on ;)
ReplyDeleteHello Mab! How lovely to see you here! I love it when a Facebook friend translates to a blog friend. :) Many thanks for your kind words regarding the blog, I do try to make it as interesting as possible and attempt to convey my passion for what I'm doing. I'll look forward to seeing you again!
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