Cheese and sage cornbread muffins (gluten free, lactose free)

A quick recipe today for quick simple tasty savoury muffins. I am not the biggest fan of muffins, I tend to prefer savoury versions though and I love cornbread so gave these a go. I am glad I did too as they a lovely, I had them alongside salad and soups, often refreshing them in the oven and eating them warm perfect. These will keep for a few days in an airtight container, they also freeze well. Sorry for lack of photos, they got eaten!

Cheese and sage cornbread muffins

makes 10 smallish muffins

50g DF spread (I used pure)
150g GF plain flour (I used dove farm)
50g cornmeal
1/2 tsp salt
a pinch of cayenne pepper
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp xantham gum
tsp dried sage
100g LF mature cheddar (I use arla lactofree)
250ml LF milk or soya milk
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 180C/160FAN/GAS 4 and line a cupcake/muffin tin with muffin liners.

Into a large bowl add the flour, cornmeal, salt, cayenne, baking powder, xantham gum and sage and mix to combine.

Gently melt the DF spread over a low heat , then mix in the milk and the eggs.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Finally mix in the cheese. 

Divide the muffin mixture evenly between the muffin cases and sprinkle the tops with a little extra grated cheese or some seeds.

Bake in the oven for ~2 minutes until golden and springy. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.   

Pecorino biscuits

Hi, prepare for a few bake off posts in a row, I had planned to bake along with the bake off and of course as soon as it came on TV I went off to do volunteer work. I am catching up over the weekend and should be back on track by the episode on Wednesday.

I decided to make savoury biscuits for biscuit week, I have already made Florentines and to be honest did not have time to make a 3D creation, why you ask? because I HANDED MY THESIS IN!!! Anyway I genuinely liked the sound of a savoury nibble.

As an added bonus I used pecorino and pumpkin seeds and so I will enter these into this months alpha bakes.

These are gluten free and lactose free, I used lactose free pecorino, if lactose is your issue these are fab but not suitable for other dairy allergy sufferers. If you do not have an issue with gluten feel free to use plain flour and they will work perfectly too.

Pecorino rounds

50g GF plain flour
pinch of cayenne pepper
15g semolina
50g DF spread (I use pure)
50g pecorino cheese, grated
1 medium egg yolk
1 tsp olive oil

1 egg yolk
15g pecorino cheese grated
pumpkin seeds
pinch of cayenne

Put the flour, cayenne pepper and semolina into a bowl and mix. Rub the spread with your finger tips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Dairy free spread is softer than butter so work quickly and don't worry that your 'breadcrumbs' are large. Stir in the 50g of cheese using a metal spoon. Briefly beat the egg and then add the egg and olive oil to the dry ingredients and bring together into a dough using a metal knife and cutting motion. Form the dough into a fat disc, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN/GAS MARK 4 and line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the chilled dough to a thickness of 3mm. Cut out small rounds and place them on the prepared sheet. Push remaining dough together, re roll and cut more biscuits.

Brush the biscuits with a little beaten egg, sprinkle over the 15g of cheese, place a couple of pumpkin seeds on top and add a small dusting of cayenne pepper. Bake for 8-12 minutes until golden, transfer to a wire rack to cool a little before consuming.

We had these warm with a glass of prosecco before a light evening meal and they were delicious, we also had the leftovers later that evening, cold but still delicious... I therefore have no idea how well they keep!

Pumpkin, sage and cheese muffins

I am not a fan of the traditional sweet muffin, I will also chose cake, brownies, cookies, cupcakes and biscuits over them. I tend to find them a bit dry or at the other end of the spectrum claggy, I also find them a bit bland the majority of the time. The savoury muffin however is something a enjoy. I like them with soups. It seems much easier to pack savoury muffins with flavour and they are lovely with cheese all oozy and warm from the oven.

This particular recipe is from Scandilicious baking by Signe Johansen, with a few tiny tweaks 

Pumpkin, sage and cheese muffins

Makes 6

125g plain flour

20g spelt flakes (you can use oats)

2 tsp sugar (golden caster or brown)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

3 large sage leaves, finely chopped

140g pumpkin puree

50g plain yoghurt (soya in my case)

25g butter, melted

1 egg

1 heaped tsp English mustard

50g cheese (jarlsberg, Gouda, cheddar, Parmesan, Gruyere, mozzarella, or in my case vegan cheese), grated.

Preheat the oven to 190C/170C FAN and line a muffin pan with liners. Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl, including the sage and stir to combine.

Mix the pumpkin puree, yoghurt, and butter in a separate bowl, add the egg and the mustard, stir to combine then add in the cheese.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir, in a figure of 8 motion until all the ingredients are combined but not over mixed.

Divide the mix between the muffin cases and sprinkle with a few more spelt flakes (or oats). Bake for 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and devour warm.

Once cold wrap any leftover muffins in foil and freeze. To reheat the muffins heat the oven to 150C/130C FAN and bake them, in for foil for 10 minutes. Remove the foil, turn up the oven to 190C/ 170C FAN and bake the muffins for a further 5 minutes.

We had these muffins with a roasted squash and pumpkin seeds salad. The sage, cayenne and mustard really work to lift the pumpkin and cheese flavours. I cannot wait to eat the leftovers soon! 

Quince and Camembert flatbreads

The letter for this months alpha bakes is 'Q'. A tricky one perhaps but I knew immediately what I wanted to bake. I have had my eye on these little flatbreads for a while.

They contain quince paste, which I believe you can get all year round so no waiting for quince's to come into season.

These are a Paul Hollywood recipe and can be found here

A few notes.

1) I halved the recipe for the two of us.

2)We had some the day I made the dough, and some the next day and some the next! The dough kept really well wrapped up tight in clingfilm in the fridge.

3)Three I did no read properly and put in all the water at once. I do not think it made a blind but of difference apart from it was crazily messy to begin with.

These taste amazing, honestly they are my favourite flatbreads to date. Considering that Camembert has a pretty strong flavour I wondered if it would overpower the quince. I need not have worried the flavours balance beautifully. The texture of these flatbreads is lovely and soft, maybe because the dough is wet, maybe from melty cheese, either way it is very very  good.

Savoury bacon scones

I should really call these leftover scones as I am going away for a week and a)wanted to clear the fridge and b) did not really want to buy much.

I made these scones as an accompaniment to go with soup and although they were just made with bits and bobs they were so delicious I will be making them again out of want, not necessity.

I did not want to be misleading and call them cheesy bacon scones even though they do have cheese in them. They contain a little grated parmesan which adds a fantastic depth of flavour and savoury edge. T hough I would not call them cheesy, it is definitely essential for the flavour.

Another added bonus of these is that they can be made and ready to devour in half an hour, perfect!

Savoury bacon scones

80-100g bacon
200g self raising flour
50g butter
25g oats
30-40g finely grated parmesan
150ml milk (I used skimmed)

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C FAN. Cook the bacon (grill, fry whatever your preference) and set aside to cool.

Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the oats and cheese, chop up the cooled bacon and add this too. 

Add the milk gradually, mixing until a dough is formed, you may not need all the milk or may need a splash extra.

On a floured surface pat out the dough to a thickness of 2-3cm. Stamp out the scones with a cutter, trying not to twist. The trimmings can be re-patted into shape and more scones stamped out. 

Place the scones on a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until risen and golden.

These were delicious warm from the oven. Mark had the leftovers for lunch the next day and they were still deemed a success.

Chorizo, mozzarella and rocket rolls

I have really been enjoying the repeats of The Great British Bake Off on BBC. I download them, as I am at work, then spend a good few hours on the sofa armed with plenty of cake watching the re-runs.

It was especially fun watching series one as I had missed this first time round. I thought the bread rolls that Edd made looked delicious and by a wonderful coincidence they appeared on his blog a day later!

I copied his recipe word for word, it can be found here.

They were delicious the day they were made and just as fabulous a day later refreshed for a few minutes in the oven .

I do bake bread on a regular basis but these have certainly inspired me to experiment with some filled rolls of my own.

Jarlsberg twist bread

A massive thank you to alpha bakes this month, my bake was delicious! J is a very tough letter it has to be said, and I did not want to make something with Jam until I had really put my thinking cap on.

And then I found it... in my hairy bikers bakation book. Jarlsberg twist bread. I had actually wanted to make this a few months ago but was thwarted when I could not get the cheese.

Jarlsberg cheese is a lovely Norwegian cheese that has a slightly nutty flavour and melts really nicely.

This is a lovely bread and I urge you to try it. M declared after a bite it was quite possibly his favourite bread that I have made. The taste is fantastic, I really love the flavour of this cheese,  and the texture is lovely and soft with a good crust and a melty centre from the cheese. Not to mention it looks pretty!

Jarlsberg twist bread

makes 2 small loaves

7g packet of fast action yeast
tsp caster sugar
125ml warm water
250g bread flour
5g salt
135g Jarlsberg cheese, grated
50ml milk
25g butter
1 egg
Thyme

Put the yeast and sugar in a bowl and add half of the warm water, Mix and leave for 10 minutes, until frothy. 

Mix the flour, 50g of the cheese and the salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.

Put the remaining water, the milk and the butter in a saucepan and heat gently until the butter is just melted. Stir the melted mix and the egg into the yeast mixture. Gradually incorporate the liquid into the flour bowl, mixing with a wooden spoon, and then your hands, until a soft dough is formed.

Lightly flour a work surface and knead the dough for 5-10 minutes. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave for ~ hour until doubled in size.

Lightly flour a surface and knock back the dough. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and roll each into a rectangle roughly 25 by 20cm. Mix the remaining cheese with thyme (as much or as little as you like) and sprinkle evenly over the rectangles, leaving a 1cm gap around the edges. Roll up tightly form the short edges and squeeze the ends to seal.

Place one roll vertically in front of you and cut up the middle, leaving ~ 1cm at the top.

 Braid the two halves over each other, trying to keep the exposed cheese and thyme centre on the top. Place on a baking sheet and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes or so until increased in size. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C FAN . 

Place in the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and hollow sounding when tapped on the base. 

Leave to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack and then dig in!

This bread is lovely on its own, with soup or split and used in a sandwich. On a final note, the bikers use parsley, but I am not its biggest fan, especially not with cheese.

Thyme and Gruyère sourdough

After making a sourdough loaf I decided to store my starter until I needed it again. Once a sourdough starter is well established it is a good idea to use a method of storing it to save you on flour!

I added enough bread flour to the starter to make a stiff batter. I then covered with clingfilm and left at room temperature for 3 days. When I wanted to make my next loaf I first disposed of half the batter. I then added another 100g flour and enough water to take the remaining half back to the consistency of thick paint. Within a few hours it was bubbling happily again, non the worse for its 3 day storage at room temp.

For my next loaf I added a little flavouring to my loaf, I used the recipe and method described here, with a few tweaks. The flour I used was all wholemeal bread flour, to the batter I added grated Gruyère cheese (not sure how much, maybe 80g?) and a couple of tablespoons of parmesan cheese. I also added fresh thyme leaves.

The cheese added a nice dimension to this sourdough loaf, the thyme did not come through quite as much as I had hoped, I think I need to add more.

As I went away for a week I needed to store my starter more long term. I added enough flour to make a batter consistency and then kept it covered in the fridge for 10 days. I will be baking a loaf this week and will let you know how storing the starter this way turns out.

Cheesy buttermilk scones

I lamented about the weather in my last post, I am STILL lamenting. I am not necessarily asking for a heatwave, just dry would be a start. Anyway enough complaining, all you really need to know is that the weather prompted a craving for comforting warm food, soup and cheese scones fitted the bill perfectly.

I had buttermilk to use up from a beyond disastrous attempt at red velvet cupcakes. And I mean disastrous, I do not mean they were not red enough, I do not mean they were not moist enough, and I do not mean that the frosting was runny, these are what other people on the internet mean when they say they turned out disastrous. Mine did not cook, at all. The top formed a vague thin crust but underneath it just kept bubbling and bubbling but never baking, it 'boiled' (for want of a better word) so much that the mix escaped the liners and covered my cupcake tin. It looked like a scene from Alien. More on the disaster in another post, as yes they will make an appearance on here, but, hopefully, only once I know what went wrong. A before and after post, if you will.

Anyway I have digressed, weather horrible, buttermilk to use up, cheese scones the answer.

Cheesy buttermilk scones


makes between 6-12 depending on cutter size


150g self raising flour
1 1/2/ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt,
pinch of cayenne
75g of cheese
1/2 beaten egg
65ml buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp oil


Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN. 


Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Mix the egg buttermilk and oil together and add to the bowl of dry ingredients.


Bring the mix together into a dough, adding a splash more milk if it is too dry. 


On a floured surface pat the dough to ~1/2cm thick. Fold in half and pat lightly. Cut out as many scones as possible. re-pat out the trimmings to use all the dough up. 

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. 


Best enjoyed warm with butter, or as an accompaniment to soup.

They are fine warmed through the next day. When I make them again I think I will add 1 tbsp of parmesan in with the dry ingredients to really ramp up the cheese favour.