Like all good Kiwis, I love savoury muffins. You don't find them in the UK and if I make them for my (English) work colleagues they turn their noses up at them and say that if a muffin doesn't have blueberries or chocolate in it, then it's not worth eating!!
This is Alison Holst's most popular muffin recipe. For those of you who don't know who (Dame) Alison Holst is, she is a best-selling Kiwi food writer and television chef. She's 75 years old and still going strong!
The combination of avocado, cheese, bacon and spring onions in these muffins is a real winner with my two sons. Try and make them; you won't be disappointed.
Ingredients
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 cup (100g) grated tasty cheddar
4 spring onions, chopped
3 rashers bacon
75g butter
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 avocado
about 1 tbsp lemon juice
Method
Sieve the first four (dry) ingredients into a large bowl. Add the cayenne pepper, grated cheese and chopped spring onions and stir to combine.
Chop the bacon finely and cook in a frying pan or under the grill until crisp. Keep the bacon drippings.
Melt the butter, add the egg, milk and bacon drippings and beat to combine. Halve the avocado, scoop out the flesh and cut the flesh into 7mm cubes. Sprinkle with lemon juice to stop them from browning. Add to the liquid mixture.
Add the bacon to the liquid ingredients and fold both wet and dry mixtures together. Stir only to dampen the flour.
Grease 12 muffin pans (or I use the rubber ones which don't need greasing). Fill each cup with the mixture.
Base at 200°C for about 10 minutes or until the muffins spring back when pressed lightly in the centre.