Broccoli and Cheese Muffins

Makes 12 Muffins. Recipe can be doubled to have extra for freezing.


Searching for a veggie muffin recipe to get my toddler to eat some 'hidden greens', I picked up a rarely used cookbook '750 Best Muffin Recipes' by Camilla V. Saulsbury and quickly found her 'fresh broccoli and parmesan muffins' recipe. And I had almost all the ingredients. I added green peppers (as didn't have quite enough broccoli left) and pinenuts and substituted leek for her green onions (scallions) and honey for her sugar. Like she wrote though, it's a versatile recipe that suits a variety of cheeses, and, I think, a few extra veggies too! I used Comte cheese and it worked well. She said she made them successfully with Cheddar, Swiss, Gruyere, Blue cheese, goat cheese and manchego.
The verdict? Family, toddler included, gobbled them up happily!

Ingredients

1 cup finely chopped broccoli
1 leek (1/2 - 3/4 cup), washed and chopped finely
50g pinenuts (optional)
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour (or use all normal flour)
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 Tbsp honey
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 cup (divided) coarsely grated strong cheese

Method

1. Grease a 12-hole muffin tin and dust with flour. Preheat oven to 200˚C (400˚F).
2. In a frying pan or similar, sauté leek in a little olive oil till becoming tender. Add broccoli (and any other veg you're using) and stir fry a couple of minutes till tender, adding a dash of water if needed to stop it browning. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flours, oats, baking powder and salt.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together honey, eggs, milk, oil and mustard until well blended. Stir in the vegetables, pinenuts and half a cup of the cheese.
5. Add the egg/vegetable mixture to the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
6. Divide mixture evenly into muffin tins. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
7. Bake 12-15 minutes or more until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool in muffin tins on a wire rack for 5 minutes then transfer onto the rack. Serve warm or let cool. Once cooled can be frozen and later rewarmed in oven or left to defrost at room temperature.