These Herbs and Cheese Muffins are perfect to eat in the morning or snack during the day. These savoury muffins are great for picnics or as an addition to a bread basket. Serve them with some compound butter and smoked salmon for a delicious brunch.
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Over the past few days I’ve been doing some blog spring cleaning. I’ve had this blog for over 10 years now! Going through all my old posts was an interesting experience. Blogging changed so much over the past decade.
At first, when I just started cooking, I was very active on a couple of Russian cooking forums. Back then cooking forums were all the rage. People formed cliques and groups. There were real friendships and drama and fights. That virtual life was almost as real as, well, real life.
Later on, I started my first blog on a livejournal platform. And a few years later Imagelicious was born. Looking back at those old posts, I reflect on how different it was to actually blog. There was no keyword research, no pinterest, no social media.
My posts consisted of a recipe and one or two paragraphs with my musings. Those recipes sometimes were extensively tested but more often not. My blog was just my space to write down what I cooked.
And now this little blog morphed into something different. Something that allows me to express myself, to write, to photograph, to create. It even led me to write my first cookbook, The Ultimate One-Pan Oven Cookbook (already available for pre-order). Me! Cookbook! I still cannot believe it.
Going through all those posts momentarily brought me back to my 20s and brought back so many memories. I stumbled upon my old recipe for the Herbs and Cheese Muffins and I knew right away that I wanted to try them again And in the past 5 days I already made them twice. This recipe is definitely a keeper and I don’t know why I stopped making them a few years ago.
These Savoury Muffins are studded with bright and flavourful herbs and spices and filled with melty cheese. They are absolutely perfect for an afternoon snack or a morning coffee. Delicious and elegant to add to a bread basket during fancy dinner. Or as part of a beautiful brunch if served with some herb compound butter and smoked salmon.
How to make Herbs and Cheese Muffins
These Herbs and Cheese Muffins are really easy to make and they require only one bowl and one spoon to mix. No sifting, to creaming. You just mix some flour, sugar, leavenings, herbs, and spices. Add the grated cheese, buttermilk (I use kefir), egg, oil, and applesauce. Voila. Divide between muffin tins and bake. These Savoury Muffins are so easy that anyone can make them.
Ingredient substitutions for these Savoury Muffins
- Cheese: I use cheddar usually just because I always have a big block that I buy at Costco. You can use marble cheese, Monterey Jack, Havarti, Edam, or any other favourite melty cheese.
- FUN TIP: try using half your favourite cheese and half smoked cheese, like smoked cheddar, for example. It’ll give these Herbs and Cheese Muffins a very unique and piquant flavour similar to my Cheese Scones with Thyme.
- Fresh herbs: If you don’t have fresh herbs, you can use dried herbs instead. Use about 2-3 tablespoons of dried herbs. You don’t need as much dried herbs as fresh as their flavour is more concentrated.
- TIP: If you use dried dill weed, you might need to use less than 2 tablespoons as it’s very pungent.
- Buttermilk: Use buttermilk or kefir (that’s what I use most of the time). You can also use plain yogurt (not Balkan nor Greek) diluted with a bit of milk so that it is the consistency of buttermilk.
- Applesauce: I love using unsweetened applesauce to replace some of the oil. It still adds moisture but reduces calories. If you don’t have applesauce, just use extra oil instead of it. So, for 2 tablespoons of applesauce you would need to use 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
- Vegetable oil: You can use melted butter instead of vegetable oil if you’d like.
- Chili powder: Chili powder is optional and can be omitted but that slight heat is just perfect for these Cheese Muffins. You can use cayenne pepper instead. Or if you don’t like a little spice, you can use paprika. My baby likes these muffins even with the chili powder.
Do you love Savoury Cakes?
If you love Savoury Muffins, then try my other savoury cakes:
Baking Herbs and Cheese Muffins
Using regular paper muffin liners, unfortunately, won’t work. The batter will stick to them and it’ll be a nightmare to get the muffins out. You MUST spray muffins liners with some oil. You can also just spray the muffin tins with cooking oil directly and avoid using any liners.
You can also use special Non-Stick Parchment Paper Liners. Those work really well.
How long will Herbs and Cheese Muffins keep?
They don’t keep long in my household. My daughter (she’s under 2 years old now) can easily eat two of these a day if I let her. Even with all the chili powder in them.
These Cheese Muffins will keep for 2 days if they are just on a plate on the kitchen counter. And they’ll keep for about 3-4 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
Remember, they have very little oil so they won’t be as soft after a few days.
Fun ways to use Savoury Cheese Muffins
- Plain with a cup of hot coffee in the morning!
- Warmed up and slathered with butter
- At the cottage with a bottle of cold beer
- On a picnic with some grapes
- As a delicious nibble before a fancy dinner
- On a platter for brunch (think Mother’s Day brunch) with smoked salmon or prosciutto
These Herbs and Cheese Muffins are perfect to eat in the morning or snack during the day. These savoury muffins are great for picnics or as an addition to a bread basket. Serve them with some compound butter and smoked salmon for a delicious brunch | imagelicious.com #muffins #cheesemuffins #savorymuffins #mothersday
- 2 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder (optional)
- 1.5 teaspoons sugar
- 1 cup cheddar cheese (grated)
- 1/2 cup parsley (chopped)
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or kefir)
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Preheat the oven to 400F.
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In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper, chili powder (if using), and sugar. Whisk thoroughly.
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Add the grated cheese and chopped parsley to the flour mixture and mix until all incorporated.
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Add the egg, vegetable oil, applesauce, and buttermilk (or kefir) and mix with a spatula just until no flour is visible. Do not overmix.
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Line medium sized muffin pan with muffin liners AND SPRAY WITH COOKING OIL (this is important!)
Alternatively: You don't have to line with paper liners, you can just spray the muffin tin with cooking oil directly.
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Evenly divide the batter between 16 cups.
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Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
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If you are not using muffin liners, then run a butter knife around the muffins while they are still hot to loosen them from the pan.
You can use any melty grated cheese. Feel free to use cheddar, edam, marble, Monteray Jack, havarti, or a mixture of a few cheeses.
Try these Cheese Muffins with other herbs like cilantro or dill or mix of a few.
You can use dry herbs instead of fresh herbs. Use about 2-3 tablespoons.
Important: You need to spray the muffin tin with some cooking oil, even if you are using muffin liners. Otherwise, the batter will stick to the liners.
(This recipe first appeared on the blog on July 19, 2008… wow, almost exactly 10 years ago… And just for fun, this is the old photo)
I have only been blogging for a year and I feel like it changes almost every day! I wish I could go back to the days when there were no keywords no Pinterest no social media. But at the same time it definitely helps!
These Herb & Cheese Muffins look amazing! I would love one of these muffins warmed with a big slice of salted butter!
I know… I also long for those old days (do I sound like a grumpy old man now?) when it was about the food and not about google… I made these muffins twice last week and will be making again for the Mother’s Day Dinner!
I am such a bread lover. Honestly CARBS are a must for me. I would eat these for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They would pair so well with soup, chili and salads. Love the flavour combination…AND you can never go wrong with muffins any time of the day,
I don’t know why you stopped making these muffins either, Julia — they look absolutely decadent — and I love all the variations you can make. I always prefer recipes that give you a little leeway in the ingredients so there’s no dashing off to the store to get that one thing that’s missing. I want to try this recipe as is first, and then play around with other ingredients later. These would go great with my husband’s grilled chicken and seafood.
I had no idea you’ve been blogging that long! You’re awesome! And these look absolutely amazing, that picture of it broken apart where you can see the texture is making me drool. Congratulations again on your book!
These muffins were so good. I can’t believe that you can actually make muffins like this. I love experimenting with different types of cheese. My favorite is mixing cheddar and swiss together. I usually love to serve these on the side with our chili.
Oh my goodness- these look AMAZING! I’m not a big baker, but I love how easy these are to throw together. And I have SO MUCH KEFIR. It’s a little ridiculous how much kefir I have in the fridge. I need to learn to bake Julia!! (And I’m always amazed when people have been blogging so long- your site is like a time capsule! That’s really neat!)
These look simply amazing. The crust of those muffins are exactly the way I like them crunchy on the outside yet soft and melt in your mouth delicious on the inside. Im thinking these will be great for a Sunday morning Brunch!
What a great muffin to try with my daughter. She is a new cook and this would be a great recipe for her to have in her tool belt. I love the variations possibilities and the easy recipe. Heck, I need this in my tool belt. Thanks for sharing this!
We do love our bread. Now, add cheese and herbs and we are smitten. How can you go wrong. I can see why it’s remained a keeper, there are some recipes you can’t improve on. They are just great on their own. And it will be interesting to see where we bloggers are ten years from now.
Oooh, livejournal. That’s a blast from the past – I used to post some of my recipes there too. 🙂 I’m glad you brought back these muffins, because they look so tasty and would be perfect for a brunch. Thanks for all the tips and ideas on how to use them.
I absolutely love savory muffins. They’re so great in a spring or summer bread basket, and are a nice change from the traditional sweet fare. (Especially when they’re made with buttermilk! Buttermilk muffins always have such an irresistible crumb.) Love the idea of serving them with compound butter and smoked salmon (the latter of which is a brunching staple in my refrigerator, we love it!). The chili powder in these must give them such a nice little kick, too. These will definitely be going on my next brunch menu.
Oh my goodnesssssss! These cheese and herb muffins needs to be in my oven like yesterday! I love a good savoury muffin and this would have made for such a good weekend brunch! Thanks for this recipe Julia!
10 years!!! What an accomplishment! And I seriously was just looking for a recipe like this the other day and didn’t really find anything I liked. So glad to see yours now!! Pinning on my must make list!!!
Wow 10 years of blogging, I’ve only been blogging 2 years and wonder if I’ll still be doing it in 10 years, I get so overwhelmed with the social media chores but there’s no escape it is so helpful. Your savory muffins look so good, I’ve been looking for a recipe that works well for some time, looking forward to try it, I bet everybody will love them!
I love a good savoury muffin and these sound absolutely divine! They would make the perfect afternoon snack 🙂
Yum, yum, yum! Totally making this!
These look delicious. Do you think they would freeze well? I can’t use 16 in a week. I like to make batches of things to freeze and use later so I’m not having the same thing every day, no matter how good it tastes. 😀
I have never tried freezing them so I can’t say for sure but my guess would be that it should be fine. Although they may be a bit dry when reheated… another option is to make half of the recipe. Since it’s difficult to use half of the egg you could just add maybe 1 tablespoon extra of applesauce for the moisture