Savoury Muffin or Scone Anyone?

Fish out your baking tins and get set for some tasty treats, because in today’s blog post, we’re going to share with you some super ideas for muffins and scones with a difference! Forget about blueberry muffins and scones with jam and cream - we’re going all-out savoury today. To show that muffins and scones are much more versatile than many people think and aren’t just for breakfast or afternoon tea. If you fancy learning how to produce some mouth-watering savoury scones and muffins, dig out your baking equipment and let’s get started…

Goat's Cheese Muffins

We love cooking with goat's cheese, as it’s just so flavoursome and it’s the perfect choice for a savoury treat. Our favourite goat's cheese muffin recipe is this one:

Ingredients:

280g plain flour
25g butter
2 eggs
1tbsp baking powder
230ml milk
125g soft goat cheese
100g spinach leaves
8-10 cherry tomatoes

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Gently melt the butter and allow to cool slightly.
• Put the baking powder and flour in a large bowl. Beat the eggs and milk together and then pour onto the flour. Add the melted butter, and then combine, taking care not to overwork the mixture. Don’t worry about it being lumpy, as it’s meant to look like that!
• Gently wilt the spinach leaves in a pan of hot water, then drain and blend to form a smooth mix. Add to the muffin mix, and crumble in the goat's cheese. Stir just enough to combine
• Spoon into a non-stick muffin tray, then prick the cherry tomatoes and add one to the top of each muffin
• Bake for 20 minutes, until the muffins are golden brown on top and cooked through. Place on a wire rack to enable them to cool slightly. Best served warm.

You can experiment with other savoury fillings for your muffins whilst sticking to the basic muffin mix. Goat's cheese also works well with red onion, with olives, with red peppers and even with honey. Have fun playing around with recipe ideas to see what amazing flavours you come up with. 

Other Savoury Muffin Ideas

Once you’ve filled those baking tins once, you’ll be hooked on making savoury muffins and keen to explore more flavour combinations. Savoury muffins make great packed lunch treats and are perfect for lunches on the go or picnics in the park. If you’ve got plenty of courgettes at the moment and you’re looking for some fresh ideas on how to use them up, why not try grated courgette and feta cheese muffins, or courgette and tomato muffins with red Leicester cheese? Again, you can pretty much make up your own recipes here to find your all-time favourites, or simply to use up anything you have to hand in the kitchen!

Savoury Cheese Scones

Another firm favourite here at Wares is the savoury scone. These are perfect for lunches, and can be filled with sliced apple and chutney for a fresh take on the ploughman’s lunch! Here’s our favourite basic cheese scone recipe:

Ingredients:

250g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
50g butter
100g strong Cheddar cheese
Handful of fresh thyme
175ml milk
1 large egg

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 200°C. Put the baking powder and flour into a large mixing bowl and add the butter, chopped into cubes. Rub through your fingers until the mixture has the appearance of breadcrumbs. Grate the cheese and add this, along with the finely chopped thyme. 
• Add the milk and use a metal knife to combine the mixture to form a dough. As with the muffins, be careful not to overwork the mixture, because if you do, the scones will be heavy. 
• Tip the mixture out onto a surface dusted with flour and press out to a rough circle, about 1.5cm thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out as many scones as possible and place these on a baking tray. 
• Beat the egg, and then brush the tops of the scones with it. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the scones have risen and are golden-brown on top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
• Serve with chutney and slices of apple, or with some slices of cheese or ham.
• Other great ideas for savoury scones include cheese and bacon scones, marmite scones, cheese and chutney scones and chorizo and red pepper scones. Have some fun with your own ideas and see what mouth-watering creations you can come up with yourself!

As you can see, both scones and muffins are easy to make, and you need very little in the way of baking equipment to get started with these recipes - just some baking tins, a wire cooling rack and a mixing bowl. If you don’t already have these, why not check out our baking equipment range, so that you can produce top-quality results with these simple recipes?

Why not share your own savoury bakes with us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram? We’d love to see your pics and recipes.