Feta, courgette & chilli savoury muffins

February has been a blur.

A blur mainly because of the busy bee day job vying for my attention but also the near-constant torrential downpour limiting my visibility to the radius of a wet and weary umbrella. And although pip & little blue has suffered at the hands of overworking and rain-induced blues, I’ve still been eating…Which means I’m harbouring a backlog of recipes and deliciousness – I have muffins, meatballs, mussels and more up my sleeve so get ready for a bumper foodie few days!

First up: majestic muffins. Tangy feta, a kick of chilli, crunchy pine nuts and packed with courgette to keep them lip-smackingly moist and moreish. A breakfast treat with vegetables snuck in and just the ticket with my brother’s homemade sweet chilli jam (or someone else’s if you aren’t lucky enough to know him…).

Consider these pip & little blue’s 1st birthday cake!

Feta, courgette & chilli savoury muffins

Makes about 16 muffins

Ingredients:

– 300g plain flour
– 1 tablespoon baking powder
– 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
– seasoning
– 2 large eggs (free range please)
– 250ml milk
– 70g unsalted butter, melted
– 200g courgette, coarsely grated
– 1/2 – 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (do you want a hint or a kick?)
– 150g feta, crumbled
– 20g pine nuts
– generous bunch basil leaves, chopped

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190°C and pop your muffin cases into the tin. Tip: If you’re using a silicone muffin tray, you can do away with the paper cases if you like.

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, a generous pinch of salt and a good few grinds of black pepper into a bowl.

Beat the eggs and milk together in a jug. Add to the dry mixture, a little at a time, whilst mixing all the ingredients together (I use the paddle attachment on my food mixer on a low setting).

Add the melted butter and mix until smooth (I increase the speed of my mixer here), scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure nothing escapes. Stir in the courgette, chilli flakes, 4/5th of the feta (that’s 120g if you’re retentive), pine nuts and basil and stir briefly to combine.

Spoon into the muffin cases and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Tip: Only fill your cases to about 2/3 full otherwise you’ll end up with conjoined muffins…Bake for 25-30 minutes until the muffins are set and golden brown on top.

Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.