The Great Muffin Experiment

I was in the mood for baking this morning and as many of you would know I'm not a big sweet fan, so I thought I would experiment with savoury muffins. I decided on vegetable based ones, full of zucchini and flavoured with cheese, spring onion, olives and sundried tomatoes. The result was a lovely light and flavoursome muffin that would make a great breakfast or brunch, perfect with a bowl of soup or a nice addition to a picnic.

These will freeze really well, so it's worth making a couple of batches if you have freezer space. Alas I don't, so I will be taking these to work to give to my favourite geeks in the I.T department tomorrow. I make sure that they always get the results of my muffin experiments -I tell them it is a form of bribery - it always pays to have the tech guys on your side! I was happy with the recipe today, particularly the lightness of the texture. I was worried they might be a bit heavy, but they were quite the opposite. I think I will use this recipe for the basis of other savoury muffins in the future. I am already having ideas for other varieties. Watch this space...

Cheesy Zucchini Muffins with sundried tomato and olives

You will need: 3 cups plain flour, 6 teaspoons baking powder, 2 large grated zucchini, 1 cup finely chopped spring onion, 2 tablespoons chopped olives, 2 tablespoons finely chopped sundried tomatoes, 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar, 1/2 cup grated parmesan, 4 eggs, 1 cup milk, 2/3 cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon poppy seeds, salt and pepper.

Method: Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a non stick muffin pan with paper patty cases.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a generous sized bowl. Add the olives, zucchini, sundried tomato, spring onion, parmesan and all but 2 tablespoons of the cheddar cheese. (You will save this for the top of the muffins later) Season generously with salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and milk. Add this wet mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined with you hands. Do not overmix or your muffins will be very flat and heavy.

Fill the prepared muffin pans with the mixture and sprinkle the leftover cheese and poppy seeds over the top of the muffins. Cook for 25-30 mins. Let them cool in the pan for about 10mins before taking them out and letting them cool further on a wire rack.

Makes about 20 muffins.

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