Gorgeous Tiny Cheese Muffins

My friend C alerted me to this recipe for cheese muffins from a wonderful New Zealand book of traditional home baking compiled from old community cookbooks by Alexa Johnston, called Ladies, A Plate. I found great pleasure in reading the stories that hark back to "a gentler time" which are attached to many of the receipts. C sometimes makes these for her packed lunches and once I had a taste, I was smitten! I make these quite often as they come together very quickly and it's just so handy to have a few stashed in the freezer.

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Ingredients

180 g flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp Marigold bouillon powder or Knorr Aromat powder or salt
1/2 tsp cayenne powder (chilli powder)
80g strong cheddar cheese coarsely grated
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 large egg
190ml milk
2 or 3 Tbsp coarsely grated parmesan cheese

Details

servings 24
Level of difficulty Easy
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 15mins
Cost Budget Friendly

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 190C/375F and thoroughly grease a 24 cup mini muffin tin.

Step 2

Measure out the flour into a medium size mixing bowl; whisk in the baking power, bouillon powder or salt and the cayenne. The salt either in the bouillon or itself is important as it activates the baking powder when the wet ingredients are added.

Step 3

Stir in the chopped parsley and 2/3rds of the cheddar cheese with a table knife, coating all the cheese and parsley with the flour mixture.

Step 4

Pour the milk into a measuring jug, crack the egg into it and whisk together.

Step 5

Pour the wet ingredients onto the dry and mix gently with the table knife until it is just combined. Don't overwork the batter.

Step 6

Spoon into 24 mini muffin cups as evenly as possible. Top with the reserved cheddar and then with the parmesan.

Step 7

Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

Step 8

Remove to a wire rack to cool. They should pop out really easily.

Step 9

SUBSTITUTIONS

Replace the parsley with finely chopped spring onions (scallions)

Replace parsley with a couple of tablespoons of finely chopped sundried tomatoes and/or olives and one tsp of very finely chopped rosemary or dried oregano. Replace the cheddar with crumbled feta or goat's cheese.

Use smoked paprika instead of the cayenne

These are best, greedily devoured, warm of course but are delicious cold. They freeze well and are ideal to pop into a lunchbox where they will have thawed out by the time you are ready to eat. Lovely with soup or as a rustic nibble with drinks!