Fresh, crispy, cheese & pesto muffins

Man cannot live on bread alone, he needs the odd muffin to keep him sane.  I don’t think anybody ever said that, but they should have.  Muffins are like mini breads.  Quicker to make and quicker to eat, and just as satisfying for a host of different reasons. 

You don’t need to make a sandwich out of a muffin, you can just bake your filling in.  Of course, that doesn’t preclude you from adding more fillings afterwards.  For more than 25 years these muffins, in one form or another, have been a mainstay of my mother’s kitchen.  The basic recipe is so easy to make, and the results so irresistably delicious that they were one of the recipes I gave to Garden & Home magazine for their May feature on me.

We sell several batches a day in the deli, and I have some in the oven whilst I type.  So, I’ve got 35 minutes to get the recipe down for you, and to link it to the lovely Chris at Melecotte, who is hosting this week’s WHB.  Originally the brainchild of Kalyn (Kalyn’s Kitchen), Weekend Herb Blogging is now in its 4th year and is being administered by Haalo at Cook (almost) anything.

So click here for the recipe, and yes, they qualify for WHB because they are full of homemade basil pesto.  Feel free to substitute any of your own herbs, cheeses, or other muffiny type things like crispy bacon bits, or slices of preserved green fig, apple or peppers.

Happy weekend everybody.

Whoops!  Clearly I am on African Time.  This week’s host is Marija from Palachinka.  Sorry Chris, but nice to discover a new blog anyway.  Thanks for hosting Marija.

crisp, herby and really cheesy. yum!

This mix will make 12 muffins, or six bounteous buxom beauties like these.

Butter and flour your muffin tins.

Sieve:

4 cups flour

8 Tbspns flat baking powder

1 teaspoon mustard powder

A good pinch of flavoured or Maldon sea salt and some fresh black pepper.

Add 100g butter and blend with your fingertips until crumbly.

Mix 1 ½ cups of grated cheddar and a small handful of chopped fresh herbs such as chives, basil or lemon thyme) into 2 ½ cups of milk, and add this to the dry ingredients.

You should have a fairly stiff mix, but make sure there are no dry pockets.

Mound into your prepared tins and then using a spoon or your finger, make a hollow deep into the centre of the muffin.

Spoon in a dollop of basil pesto and top with a halved cherry or mini plum tomato.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake at 200*C for 20-25 minutes.

The muffins should be beautifully browned and a skewer should come out clean.

Serve warm or cold with ripe brie, and prosciutto, drizzled with balsamic dressing, or eat with brie and avo , and have the prosciutto with fresh ripe figs.