Beetroot, thyme and Feta muffins
I love savoury muffins and these contain two of my favourite ingredients, beetroot and feta. Earthy, salty and with a hint of thyme in the batter, these are perfect served with fresh homemade soup. I use gluten free flour here as most of the people I know seem to prefer it, but use regular if it’s not an issue for you. Everything I bake nowadays is gluten free and luckily flours and mixes today are so good the results are never compromised. I add beetroot crisps into the mix and reserve a few for the topping too!
Makes 12 large muffins
Ingredients350g gluten-free self-raising flour
One teaspoon baking powder
One teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
250ml milk
250ml plain yogurt
Three eggs
100g butter, melted and cooled
40g cut and dried beetroot crisps (reserve a few for the topping)
100g diced cooked beetroot (not in vinegar), drained on kitchen towel
200g Feta, chopped into small pieces
Two dessertspoons of chopped fresh thyme
Sea salt and ground black pepper
Method • Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Place 12 large muffin liners into a muffin tin.
• Place the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and combine.
• In a large jug or bowl, whisk the milk, yogurt, eggs and melted butter. Then add this to the flour mixture. Stir everything together well and season with salt and pepper.
• Mix the grated beetroot, beetroot crisps, Feta cheese and chopped thyme into the mixture.
• Divide the mixture among the muffin cases, making sure that some of the pieces of cheese sit on the top of each muffin. Break up the beetroot crisps and add some to the top of each muffin.
• Bake the muffins for 20–30 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm or cold.
• These will keep for a couple of days, but are best, of course, served on the day they are made, preferably when they have cooled.
Shirlee Posner,
eatsurrey.co.uk