Savory mini muffins

It's been some time since I made mini-muffins, but I had the occasion earlier this week when some friends stopped by for an apéritif before going out to a restaurant for lunch. I made the original recipe years ago with goat cheese and rosemary. This time I altered it to make ham-and-cheese muffins by replacing the goat cheese with grated comté (a mountain cheese from eastern France) and adding grated lardons (smoked bacon). I also used fresh thyme from the garden rather than rosemary; the thyme plants are covered in fresh fragrant growth right now.

A plate of ham-and-cheese mini muffins, nine of thirty, with a slightly burned shallot garnish.

I made one gaffe. I carefully minced and sautéed some shallots to incorporate into the batter. After I had combined everything and carefully spooned the mixture into mini muffin molds, I saw the sautéed shallots still sitting on the stove. Oops. Rather than un-mold all the batter to incorporate the forgotten ingredient, I spooned the shallots on top of each muffin as a kind of garnish. It would have worked, except that the shallots very close to burned in the oven. Oh well. The muffins were still good, with just a touch of crispy onion flavor. I served them with a nice dry champagne.