Savoury muffins are excellent for getting rid of leftovers out of the fridge. I use a basic savoury muffin recipe then just add what ever ingredients I have in the fridge to it. For this recipe I have used some caramelized onion, spinach, blue cheese and feta and man are they good!

Ingredients

Caramelized Onions

• 3 brown onions, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp brown sugar

Basic Savoury Muffin

• 2 cups flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 50g butter, softened
• 1 cup cheese (cheddar or edam), grated
• handful of fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg

Extra Goodness you can add in

• 1/2 spring onion, finely chopped
• handful feta cheese, cubed
• handful blue cheese, cubed
• handful baby spinach, sliced
• any other leftovers that you think would work i.e. sundried tomatoes, corn, bacon, olives, parmesan.

Method

Caramelized Onions

Add oil to a large saucepan and heat on a low temperature. Add onions and stir to coat in the oil. Cover the saucepan and cook slowly for 10 minutes until onions are clear and soft stirring occasionally.

Add balsamic and brown sugar and continue to cook for another 20 minutes. Once onions have caramelized set aside to cool.

Savoury Muffins

Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a 12 large muffin tin with baking paper squares.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking paper, paprika, salt and pepper. Rub butter into the flour mixture until it resembles crumbs. Stir in the grated cheese, herbs, caramelized onion and any other ingredients you may like (I also added feta, blue cheese, spring onion and spinach). Make a well in the centre of the mixture.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg and milk together then pour into the flour mixture. Stir together gently with a fork until mixture is mixed (do not over mix).

Divide mixture evenly among the prepared muffin tins.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden and cooked. If you make mini muffins they will only need 10-12 minutes likewise texan will need 20-25mins. Watch carefully. Cool on a rack.

Makes 12 large muffins or 24 minis or 8 texan muffins.

Recipe adapted from Allyson Gofton.