Cheese & Tomato Savoury Muffins

Some weeks ago, some girls and I went to 'Tea and Niceties' for a high tea to celebrate with 'F', our bride-to-be. The food and ambience were both great. The two items that impressed me were a little savoury muffin and the little fluffy scones. They were the best that I have ever had!

I thought of trying to duplicate the savoury muffin, which everyone guessed had sun-dried tomatoes, and found this recipe from Taste. It looked good and I gave it a try. It worked out really well and best of all, it was very simple to make :)

(makes 36 mini muffins)

2.5 cups self raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1 and 1/4 cups milk

90g butter, melted (or 3 Tbsp olive oil)

1 cup grated tasty cheese (use light low-fat variety if you like)

1/2 cup marinated sundried tomatoes, drained and chopped

Place flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Make a well in the centre and add egg, milk and melted butter. Using a large metal spoon, stir until just combined. Add tomatoes and cheese and mix well.

Spoon about 2 tsp of batter into each hole of a lightly greased mini muffin tray. Bake at 180C for 15 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Serve with whipped cream (thickened cream whipped into soft peaks).

You may add basil pesto and/or defrosted frozen spinach (drained after thawing) into the batter for variety.

These muffins freeze well. I baked a batch yesterday and another today. Now I have 2 bags (40 altogether) in the freezer, in storage for future consumption :) To eat, simply thaw them in the fridge or on your kitchen bench then heat them up in the microwave oven.

Try not to overcook it otherwise the exterior of the muffin will be golden brown and hard while the inside of the muffin is soft. You want the entire muffin to be soft and moist. I overcooked my last 12 muffins and they were not the texture that I wanted.

'F' had a try tonight and confirmed that these (the soft ones) taste and look like the ones we had at 'Tea and Niceties'! Yum!

Platter of savouries at high tea. I was trying to copy the muffin on the right