It’s National Baking Week here in the UK and many people across the UK are baking up a storm to raise money for the wonderful Great Ormond Street Hospital.
I thought we’d try another of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s savoury muffin recipes to start our week of baking, as we all loved his courgette and pine nut muffins. And his combination of carrot, spinach and cumin didn’t disappoint! Savoury muffins are such as great finger food for little hands and mouths, and you really can pack them full of wonderfully nutritious vegetables.
Usually for me, savoury muffins just have to have some kind of cheese (is that just me?). Cheese makes pretty much everything taste better! Yet, amazingly, I didn’t miss the lack of cheese in these at all.
The only thing I’ve changed from Hugh’s original recipe is the amount of spinach. He uses 150g of spinach, while 100g was enough for me (and left me with spinach leaves to throw into other dishes for the rest of the week).
If it’s difficult finding the time to cook, try to toast the pumpkin seeds ahead of time, even the day before. If you don’t have pumpkin seeds (they add a fabulous extra texture to the muffins) you can use sunflower seeds or a mixture of the two (Hugh’s suggestion). You could also cook the onion mixture ahead of time.
The batter is quite a stiff mixture, but still produces lovely moist muffins which freeze wonderfully (great to have in the freezer to add to lunchboxes).
CARROT, SPINACH AND CUMIN MUFFINS
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 18-20 mins
Makes 12
Freezable
80g unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus extra 10g for frying
1 onion, finely diced
2 tsp ground cumin
100g spinach, tough stalks removed and very finely shredded
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
275g whole milk yoghurt
150g carrots, grated
40g pumpkin seeds, toasted
Heat the oven to 200C and line a muffin tray with paper cases.
Warm the 10g of butter in a large frying pan and sauté the onion with a pinch of salt until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes.
Add the cumin, stir for a minute, then add the spinach and stir until wilted and soft. Leave the mixture to cool.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
In a jug, whisk the cooled melted butter, eggs and yoghurt.
Pour the wet ingredients over the flour and stir with a spatula until just combined. Fold in the cooled onions and spinach, the grated carrot and seeds.
Spoon into the prepared cases and bake for about 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
How are you celebrating Baking Week?
Rudolph is made from a peanut butter sandwich. I used a large round cookie cutter to cut out his face and then cut out two ears. His antlers are pretzels, his nose a piece of cherry tomato, and his eyes are raisins.
Mr Meatloaf Head
thegingerbreadmum 