Friday, February 26, 2016

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.

12 comments:

  1. Walt... can you tell me why mini muffins seem to vanish quicker than the same volume of ordinary ones??
    These look lovely... I don't like pale tops to baked food.

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  2. I just had breakfast. But my mouth is watering! Yogurt, cereal, and fruit does NOT compare to a plate of Walt-the-Fourth-Mini-Muffins.

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  3. Sir, please can we have the recipe? I'm a daily reader from Germany...and have been racking my brains over something savoury and bite-size that my son can take to school for snacks (no sweet treats allowed). Never thought of savoury muffins, but these are a pure stroke of GENIUS! Pretty please...with cheese on top (or rather, caramelised shallots...yum yum)

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  4. Nine of 30--Walt, you didn't eat 21 before your guests arrived, did you?

    They look good to me since I like things well done.

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  5. The crispy shallots on top sound just as good, if not better, as mixed into the batter.

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  6. Mmmmmm. A wonderful idea for bite-sized savories.

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  7. Good thing we're not neighbors Walt, I would be over at your house all the time!

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  8. jean, and I ate all the leftovers!

    tim, probably because they're easier to eat!

    mitch, oh, I don't know...

    oana maria, sure! Here's the link to Chez Loulou's recipe, the one that I used: http://chezlouloufrance.blogspot.fr/2011/12/savory-mini-muffins.html. Her muffins look much nicer than mine!

    judy, :)

    gosia, they were!

    carolyn, haha! These are some of the leftovers, after the fact.

    ellen, they could have been a little less "crispy!"

    christine, people seem to like them. Like I said, they're easy to eat.

    ron, lol. And you'd be welcome!

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    Replies
    1. Merci beaucoup (and of course to 'Loulou' and Delia). I beg to differ, though, although Jennifer's muffins look very professional, yours look good enough to eat :) or rather, to inhale!

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