Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Mini-muffins with goat cheese

About a month ago, I saw this recipe for savory mini-muffins on Chez Loulou, a blog written by a fellow American expatriate who, until her recent move to Normandy, lived in the south of France. Loulou's stated goal is to taste "each and every French cheese available in France." She started on that quest in 2007 and I believe she is getting very close to achieving it.

Mini-muffins made with goat cheese and rosemary.

I liked the idea of these muffins that I could serve at apéro time and I wanted to try them, especially because we live at the intersection of three A.O.C. goat cheese producing regions. I got a set of mini-muffin pans last week (a steal from Auchan: a silicon mold for fifteen muffins for three euros. I got two!) and made the recipe over the weekend. As Loulou points out, the recipe is easy, not fussy. And the bite-sized muffins are perfect finger food.

A small snack for two...

My muffins didn't turn out as well-formed as Loulou's, but they were amazingly tasty and I know they will be a hit whenever we host drinks and snacks. I'll work on improving their looks the next time I make them. I also got to thinking about variations on the theme. I'm sure this technique would work well with other savory breads like pounti, not to mention sweet ones like zucchini or pumpkin breads.

...or a tray-full for a crowd.

10 comments:

  1. 30 in the bottom picture... so you resisted the temptation to "qwality" control them before the photo!
    They look smashing... can smell them from here... oh no, it's the toast! Oh well! Just have to spread some St. Moret on it.

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  2. I have enough recipes from you guys on file without adding something as dangerously tempting as this! Oh well... [preheats oven]

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  3. These look really tempting. I'm going to hop on over to Chez Loulou for the recipe.

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  4. Rosemary looks good on top of these cute little muffins. Will go get the recipe right now. Thanks.

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  5. Walt

    May be these little rolls will be of interest :-)
    http://www.canadiangardening.com/food-and-entertaining/garden-to-table/sweet-potato-biscuits/a/37137

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  6. They look great! Nice and golden and very tempting.
    Glad you liked the recipe and thanks for sharing the link.
    Bonne Année!

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  7. Did Loulou ever report what progress she is making trying all the cheeses?

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  8. These look lovely!!
    I saw the recipe when it appeared on Loulou's blog and bookmarked it. Now I feel compelled to make some....yum !!

    And what a bargain your mini muffin pans were - cooking equipment is fairly expensive in France, we have found.

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  9. Oh man do they ever look good Walt! You should be taking photos for "Bon Appetite" magazine. Scrumptious!

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  10. tim, next time I'll do a better job of presenting the product.

    mike, them's the hazards of living in France!

    carolyn, enjoy!

    evelyn, Ken said he thought there was too much rosemary in the muffins, so you may want to cut it down a little. I thought the rosemary was ok.

    t.b., thanks! They look tasty!

    loulou, same to you!

    starman, I'm not sure, but I know she's having a good time.

    jean, I was looking at the same muffin pans on the internet for close to 20 euros (24 muffins).

    ron, oh, I do, but they never seem to get published... ;)

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