The ancient Romans had a saying, Più se spemne e pejo se magna: the more you spend, the worse you will eat. This muffin recipe was the result of just that type of frugal sentiment, and more specifically of a crazed cupboard raid. The particular cupboard in question contained the somewhat bedraggled remains of three different types of flour: regular, wholewheat and fine cornmeal. It's only flour, you may think, but these days most of us can stand to be a little bit more budget conscious than before and it's a pity to waste even those last leftovers of flour or wilted herbs. That the cupboard raid concoction turned out twelve unexpectedly delicious savoury muffins - now a favourite family standby - just proves yet again that necessity is the mother of all invention.
Makes 12 Healthy Herb Muffins.
Healthy Herb Muffin Ingredients
- 1 cup (100 g) wholewheat flour
- 1 cup (100 g) cake (plain white) flour
- 3/4 cup (100 g) fine cornmeal (or polenta)
- 1/4 cup superfine (caster) sugar (45 g)
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (any combination of parsley, chives, coriander, mint, and chervil)
- 1 cup milk (250 ml), and a little extra, if needed
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp olive oil (45 ml), plus a little extra to grease the muffin tin
TO SERVE
- Serve Healthy Herb Muffins warm and dab with some good quality butter or topping of your choice.
Healthy Herb Muffin Directions
- Preheat the oven to 392 degrees Fahrenheit (or 200 degrees Celsius), then grease a 12 hole muffin tray with olive oil.
- In a large bowl, mix the wholewheat flour, cake flour and fine cornmeal with the sugar, salt, baking powder and herbs.
- In a measuring jug, beat together the milk, egg and olive oil.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, stirring with a spoon until just combined. Don't worry if there are lumps. They say a lumpy batter makes for a lighter muffin. The batter should be thick but still runny enough to pour. Add a little more milk if it's too stiff.
- Pour into the greased muffin tin and bake for 15 to 25 minutes (depending on your oven). The top should be slightly golden and if you insert a fine skewer into the centre of a muffin, it should come out clean.
- Allow to cool slightly and serve while still warm.
Healthy Herb Muffin Tips & Suggestions
- Feel free to use fine cornmeal or polenta for this recipe.
- If you don't have any fresh herbs, you can use dry herbs instead, but use only 1 1/2 tbsp. Dried herbs are a lot more pungent in flavour!
- If you want to jazz the muffins up a little, you can also add some grated cheese, e.g. cheddar, hard goat's cheese, or an aged Gouda or Parmesan.
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