Clockwork Lemon

Ham and Swiss Muffins

I'm partial towards savory muffins, and this might be the tastiest savory muffin recipe I've ever made.

I had written down the flavor combo in a notebook months and months ago. It was almost forgotten until one afternoon at the grocery store when I noticed a small smoked ham on sale. I decided to buy it and use it for ham and swiss muffins.

As is sometimes the case with recipe development, the first couple of batches ranged from 'meh' to 'lets throw that right into the garbage'.  The ham was used up, the test recipes tucked away in a binder, and the project was put on hold.

It wasn't until a bit of leftover ham from the holidays jogged my memory and inspired me to work the kinks out of the recipe that this verison came into being.

Cranberry Eggnog Muffins { aka Christmas Morning Muffins}

In my opinion, these muffins are the perfect Christmas morning muffins: tart cranberries, sweet eggnog, walnuts and hints of cinnamon all baked together.

As far back as I can remember my mom has been making these muffins along with some cheddar bacon muffins and banana muffins for Christmas morning. She bakes them earlier in the week and then freezes them. On Christmas we slice up fruit, set out a cheese platter, warm up some muffins and have a easy and relaxing breakfast together.

So I'm a little biased towards these particular muffins, but they are tasty enough to have won a spot on our breakfast table for at least a decade (correction) 21 years!

 

 

Maybe it's the perfect flavor combination that has kept them around for so long. Or maybe it's the fact that I'm super anal about Christmas traditions and everything (and I mean everything) has to happen the same way every. single. year.

We wouldn't let terrible muffins to ruin our Christmas year after year so it's probably a little bit of both.

 

Blueberry Honey Millet Muffins

Whenever I think about making a batch of muffins I get suckered in by my idealized muffin fantasy  in which they are served warm from a cloth lined bowl at a casual brunch and the entire batch is eaten the very same morning it was baked.

Muffin reality is more along the lines of a one or two muffins being eaten while I read blog posts and then the rest stored in a Tupperware container and eaten throughout the week for a quick breakfast.

This means for a muffin recipe to make it into my regular rotation it can't only taste good when warm and fresh, it has to taste good all week long.

 

 

Luckily, these muffins fit the bill perfectly: delicious fresh or left over with a soft fluffy texture punctuated with crispy pieces of millet and soft baked blueberries.

 

Goat Cheese and Green Onion Mini Muffins

These savory little muffins with their tangy, warm, melty cheese are a little bit addictive. You pop one into your mouth and even if you leave the kitchen you suddenly find yourself beside them again 'trying' another one.

I made these for brunch and every single of them disappeared before the meal was over.

Cheddar Bacon Muffins

These cheesy, bacon-y muffins have been a staple on our family's Christmas breakfast table for as long as I can remember. Each year my mom makes these and also cranberry eggnog muffins and banana muffins for breakfast on Christmas morning along with different fruit plates and cheeses.

It's not Christmas yet, but I really really wanted these and it turns out there is no law preventing me from making them all year round. So I called up my mom, got the recipe and whipped up a batch to bring camping with us.

 

The only difficult part of making them is not eating the bacon before it gets put into the batter. I cook it really crispy then sort of crunch it between paper towels to break it into little pieces. You could also tear it up with your hands, but that is faar too tempting for me.

Breakfast Banana Muffins

Why shouldn't muffins be cute like cupcakes? These banana muffins are topped with a tangy honey cream cheese and are ready to be your complete breakfast.

I used the banana muffin recipe that my mom makes for Christmas morning breakfast every single year. The muffins are very moist and not too sugary or cakey.. I like my muffins to taste like muffins.

The topping is cream cheese that has been beaten with honey until its easy to spread and slightly sweetened.